With Saquon Barkley running wild in the City of Brotherly Love, and the Giants sitting at the bottom of the league's standings, the G-Men have been getting a ton of flack on social media and from talking heads on TV. And yes when the star of your team goes to the division rival for nothing in return that's not exactly a good thing, but even with that said the bashing of the New York Giants has become too much.
GM Joe Schoen's decision has been criticized time and time again for this mistake, which was highlighted in HBO's Offseason Hard Knocks. The special took viewers inside the life of an NFL GM displaying how teams make free agent signings and draft picks in the offseason. In one of the show's viral moments, Schoen calls Barkley to get him to sign back with NY. An unenthused Barkley was cordial but had his mind set elsewhere. The now infamous clip pans to Giant's owner John Mara who says "I'll Have a Tough Time Sleeping if Saquon Goes to Philadelphia."
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| John Mara reacts to Saquon Free Agency Decision (via HBO) |
In light of this constant criticism, I feel the media has been too harsh on the Giants. In the offseason when Big Blue let Saquon walk, they knew that offering him any more than they already have would set their team back even further than the Daniel Jones contract. After a rough season, I believe Joe Schoen knew that the franchise was in no position to pay for a running back because that comes as a luxury. And as much as I hate to say it, the Eagles are a good team who can afford that luxury.
Philly has a better o-line, QB, and wide receiver group giving Saquon the best chance to play to the best of his ability. That's why he's jumping over people backward and has a chance to win MVP this year. If 26 was still wearing blue, the Giants would still be a sub-.500 team.
Speaking of sub-.500 teams, the Las Vegas Raiders, and Tennessee Titans both lost their Pro Bowl running backs last offseason, yet you rarely hear that being brought up at all. Behind Barkley, former Titan Derrick Henry and former Raider Josh Jacobs are 2 and 3 in rush yards this season, after their original team was forced to let them go for money reasons, just like the Giants.
But unlike the Giants, the Titans and Raiders did a poor job replacing their star RB. Vegas has had a carousel of backs this season none of which have thrived in the role. As for the Tennessee, they overpaid for Tony Pollard who's averaging just 4.3 yards per carry. While Joe Schoen did a nice job replacing Barkley with free agent Devin Singletary as well as drafting up-and-coming rookie RB Tyrone Tracy who broke out for multiple 100-yard games already this season.
While the decision to keep DJ and let Barkley go was not a good one in hindsight, we don't have to bring it up every week, no need to kick us while we're down.
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