New York Giants: Saquon Barkley is more than a Hall of Fame talent

The talents of New York Giants running back Saquon Barkley appear to have no limits as he continues to reach new heights

The New York Giants by all accounts have shown that they are a team in transition building for a brighter future. The switch from franchise leader Eli Manning to rookie Daniel Jones at Quarterback is only a minor piece to the puzzle being constructed by general manager Dave Gettleman.

A controversial part of Gettleman’s master plan involved the selection of running back Saquon Barkley in the 2018 NFL Draft. The Giants defied the logic of grabbing a quarterback with a top-five pick and instead took the best available player in the draft class. The Giants haven’t had a moment of disappointment with Barkley as he would go on to crush rookie and franchise running back records. The fantastic 2018 season led to offensive rookie of the year honors and a trip to the Pro Bowl.

The 2019 version of Barkley faced the obstacle of being a known target for defensive game plans and battling injuries. He missed a few games this season and was severely limited from an ankle injury suffered earlier in the season. His numbers appeared to take a dive because of this, but over the past few weeks, fans have seen a resurgence from the former Penn State star. The world is still talking about his record-breaking performance Sunday against the Washington Redskins totaling 279 yards from scrimmage in the Giants overtime victory.

The former Giants franchise holder was Tiki Barber; someone Barkley measured himself against since being drafted in 2018. In an interview after the game with the New York Post, Barkley revealed his promise to break all of Barber’s records before his career is over and surprise over his final numbers from Sunday’s victory.

"“I told him that I was going to break all of his records,” Barkley said. “Not in a disrespectful way, but coming from a respectful way that it’s my goal that I want to be great like you one day. He gave me a lot of advice, gave me a lot of motivation. He’s a great dude.”"

"“I didn’t find that out until after the game,” Barkley said. “That’s something you set goals to do. I’ve already been quoted saying I want to be legendary. I want to be great. I’m thankful to have that record. Even though my name is on that record, it took a lot of people to help me to do it.”"

Barkley is a hall of fame talent that is only getting better with experience. The Giants need to make it a priority to keep him in New York with Big Blue for the rest of his football career.