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6 Biggest Takeaways from Episode Two of Hard Knocks With the New York Giants

The Saquon Barkley saga was the biggest storyline of the second episode of Hard Knocks.

By Nicholas Rome

Jul 26, 2023; East Rutherford, NJ, USA; New York Giants head coach Brian Daboll, right, and general manager Joe Schoen speak at a press conference before the first day of training camp at Quest Diagnostics Training Facility. Mandatory Credit: Danielle Parhizkaran-USA TODAY Sports
Jul 26, 2023; East Rutherford, NJ, USA; New York Giants head coach Brian Daboll, right, and general manager Joe Schoen speak at a press conference before the first day of training camp at Quest Diagnostics Training Facility. Mandatory Credit: Danielle Parhizkaran-USA TODAY Sports / Danielle Parhizkaran-USA TODAY Sports
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The first episode of the new offseason edition of Hard Knocks gave us a peak into how the New York Giants go about scouting and deciding which players they would like to sign. The biggest takeaway from week one was how the Giants went about handling the running back room, potentially misreading Saquon Barkley's market.

The second episode was focused entirely on the NFL Combine with the following being the biggest takeaways.

1- Giants Went In-Depth on QBs and WRs

Drake Maye was compared in the scouting room to Daniel Jones personality-wise. which is interesting as it was reported that the Giants were interested in Maye. The Giants also went in-depth on Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels, and JJ McCarthy.

One of the Giants scouts said that the biggest thing the Giants look at is how the player would fit within the organization personality-wise. Malik Nabers was described in the room as highly competitive and passionate. It was fascinating to see the team say that they wanted to get around Nabers to see if they could work with his personality which was something they didn't say about any of the other players shown.

2- Joe Schoen-Saquon Barkley Friction is the Biggest Storyline

The biggest storyline Hard Knocks is going to follow is the decision to allow Saquon Barkley to sign with Philadelphia. Before the combine, Schoen went through mock questions with the Giants press team about questions he may get regarding Barkley. Schoen told the media the franchise tag wasn't off the table, even though we now know that is something he didn't consider.

Joe Schoen then gave an incredibly eye-opening answer when they asked him how he'd handle the rebuttal of Barkley saying he didn't want to play on the tag:

"I understand he doesn't want to be franchise-tagged and I wanted to give him a lot of money a year ago and he didn't want that but, there's nothing I can do about that."

- Joe Schoen

This comes off as incredibly petty by Joe Schoen and raises the question of whether Joe Schoen let Saquon walk this spring because he was spurned last offseason by Saquon Barkley.

3- Brian Daboll Led the Combine Interviews with QBs

One thing the New York Giants asked every quarterback to do was draw their favorite passing play before explaining it to the coaching staff.

The quarterback that seemingly impressed Daboll the most was Drake Maye with how he was able to digest information. The Giants met with Caleb Wiliams as well who was seemingly impressive in the room.

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