No one disputes the greatness of Saquon Barkley, a player who actually more than lived up to what sounded like overzealous hype one year ago. The Giants did not take him with the No. 2 pick in the 2018 NFL Draft as much as they anointed him and he responded with a breathtaking debut season.
Barkley was nearly flawless, on the field and off it, and the only critique anyone could muster is he is not a quarterback. A year later, the Giants head into a draft hoping to find a successor to Eli Manning and there is healthy debate that, despite Barkley’s production, the franchise would be better off long-term with Sam Darnold or perhaps Josh Allen or Josh Rosen – the quarterbacks available to the Giants when they selected a running back their general manager, Dave Gettleman, said was “touched by the hand of God.