Where are the Giants heading from here?

LOS ANGELES, CA, UNITED STATES, May 26, 2020 /EINPresswire.com/ -- The New York Giants have running backs Saquon Barkley (D1/18), Dion Lewis (UFA/20), Wayne Gallman (D4/17), Jon Hilliman (FA/19), Javon Leake (UDFA/20), FB Eli Penny (FA/18), and FB George Aston (UFA/20) Sandro Platzgummer (INT'L PATHWAY PROGRAM). The latest key addition is Dion Lewis (UFA/TEN) and the latest key loss is Buck Allen (UFA/unsigned).

Where are you really wondering where the squad stands? Well, Saquon Barkley has rushed for 2,310 yards and 17 rushing touchdowns 478 times during his two-year career. Such statistics aren't terrible, but what's terrible, and that isn't actually the responsibility of Barkley, is that both in 2018 and 2019, the Giants running game ended in the league's bottom half. Once, with any rushing yard gained, it's not Barkley's fault that he has had to scrape and fight. Yet Barkley isn't built of steel as those two seasons have proven. ,The Giants had Barkley on a road to burnout before he hit his 25th birthday without bringing a stronger offensive line before him and the some of the wear and tear that comes from his intense workload.

Where are the Giants heading from here? The Giants ought to say that they are operating better, not harder, when it comes to managing game play. The question is that the Giants, who enjoy the ability set for Saquon Barkley, see him as their bell cow. Though it's not that Barkley can't do it, the Giants replicated a error from their past; back in the field they had receiver Odell Beckham Jr, everybody assumed Beckham was going to get the ball, more than once. The spectators not only knew about it, but also opposed defenses, who used to key in stopping Beckham, who couldn't do it all on his own. Returning to Barkley, the Giants used him on 79.2 percent of their offensive plays over two seasons, a figure that would certainly have been greater if Barkley hadn't lost time last year with a heavy ankle sprain that he just acknowledged wasn't fully healed.

While presumably the Giants fixed the offensive line, it is hard to forget that in each of the last two off-seasons they allegedly set the line only for the unit to regress. There's promise in the edition of this year, but there must be some early signs of results where Barkley doesn't take a pounding when trying to gain yardage. Meanwhile, Dion Lewis' inclusion may prove to be one of the team's most underestimated free-agent acquisitions. Once a bell cow himself, Lewis has settled into more of a kind of role spot reliever, a guy who has taken on the pass pro and short yard duties that have contributed to the pounding on Barkley so far.

When they want to be sure he has a good, successful future in New York, the coaches will be wise to suggest will any of Barkley's workload. But then what about the forthcoming contract talks with Barkley, which he is entitled to commence after this season? Will he be irked by a diminished workload to the extent he would decide to see his contract out? It shouldn't. Barkley may be young and full of enthusiasm and try to get his hands on the ball any time so he can make his case to surpass the $64 million Panthers four-year deal extension Christian McCaffery got earlier this off-season.

Yet he's got to be clever and still understand the larger picture. The positive thing is that Barkley's really been about doing the most for the squad. If the coaches are smart, they must know that they can even place the whole production of the team on the back of their super talented running back, even if their long-term objective is to maximize the performance of Barkley.

Aurora DeRose
Michael Levine Media
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