After the New York Giants selected Saquon Barkley second overall in the 2018 NFL Draft, the front office and coaching staff sold a plan that would take advantage of Barkley’s skill set and justify such a high pick on a running back. During offseason workouts and training camp, Barkley was being moved around the formation in the passing game, taking snaps and seeing targets from the slot and outside. Everything looked great.
Then the regular season started and little of the creativity transferred. Barkley was regularly targeted on panicked check downs well behind the line of scrimmage and zero of 121 passes thrown his way came while he was lined up in the slot.