Cheering Barkley and replacing Thomas
The New York Giants, and their fans, are potentially sitting on the horns of a pair of dilemmas this weekend. Namely, Saquon Barkley and Andrew Thomas.
First, how should the Giants — and more importantly their fans — react to Saquon Barkley running onto the field Sunday. Barkley was the first draft pick of Dave Gettleman’s dream job of being the Giants’ GM. Gettleman bypassed Sam Darnold, Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson, Quentin Nelson and Josh Rosen (hey, they can’t all be Pro Bowlers) to draft Barkley. At the time, Gettleman said of Barkley “He was touched by the hand of God, frankly,” and predicted that he’d be a “gold jacket” player.
The Giants drafted Barkley to try and surround an aging Eli Manning with as much talent as possible for one last hurrah as the Giants’ franchise quarterback. The move made sense in the context that the Giants also had Odell Beckham Jr, Sterling Shepard, and Evan Engram all in the prime of their careers. Adding a super-high upside running back could have been the piece that allowed the former Super Bowl MVP to mound one last ride to glory.
It didn’t work out and Eli, Beckham, Engram, and Shepard all faded away over the suceeding years. But Barkley remained and was one of the most compelling reasons to watch the Giants on any given Sunday. Even in some dismal seasons, Barkley gave Giants fans something to cheer for.
And then the Giants made the decision to let him leave in free agency.
John Mara confessed his worst fears to Joe Schoen, saying, “I’ll have a tough time sleeping if Saquon goes to Philadelphia, I’ll tell you that.” And, of course, that’s exactly where Saquon wound up: Signing with one of the Giants’ most bitter rivals.
So: Should Giants fans welcome Barkley back to MetLife Stadium with cheers, or jeers? Will it be “Once a Giant, always a Giant”? Or will he be regarded as a traitor who could have signed anywhere but chose to stick the dagger?
But wait! That’s not all!
The Giants are also faced with the potential long-term absence of star left tackle Andrew Thomas. Thomas is feared to have suffered a Lisfranc injury in the Giants’ loss to the Cincinnati Bengals and his season is considered to be “up in the air”.
On Tuesday we laid out the Giants’ most likely recourses in the event that Thomas misses time. Now, we want to know what you think they should do:
A) Play Joshua Ezeudu at left tackle and leave Jermaine Eluemunor at right tackle.
— or —
B) Play Eluemunor at left tackle and Evan Neal at right tackle.
To be fair, no team can easily survive the loss of a player like Thomas. But which is the less-bad option for the Giants?
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