Despite report, Saquon Barkley says playing for Browns would be ‘awesome’

Who are you going to believe as the start of the NFL Draft draws closer and closer – the player or the talent agency representing him?

According to a story written by Ben Baskin in Sports Illustrated, the agency representing Saquon Barkley, Roc Nation Sports, doesn’t want the Browns drafting the Penn State running back.

The Browns pick first and fourth in the first round of the draft April 26. The New York Giants pick second and the New York Jets pick third.

“They don’t want him in Cleveland,” Baskin wrote. “They want him to go second to the Giants and play in the media capital of the world. That’s where you can become the Face of the League. His manager even implored him to pull an Eli Manning and demand that the Browns not draft him.”

The San Diego Chargers owned the first pick in the 2004 draft. Eli Manning, whose brother Peyton was the first pick in the 1998 draft by Colts, announced he wouldn’t play for the Chargers if they picked him. The Chargers did anyway and traded him to the Giants before the first round ended.

Hold on. Barkley’s representation might see New York as a better place for their client, but Barkley never said he doesn’t want to play for the Browns. In fact, he said the opposite at the Combine last month in Indianapolis.

“That’d be awesome,” Barkley said. “If you go to a team like that, obviously, they’ve had some rough years. But I think they’re just a couple of pieces away. They do have a lot of young talent. They’ve brought in a new offensive coordinator (Todd Haley).

“They only won one game, but they were in a lot of games. You want to be a part of something like that — something that’s bigger than yourself, something that will leave a legacy, being a part of something special.”

Barkley’s agent, Kim Miale, also shot down the Sports Illustrated report, according the Cleveland.com.

“I can say on behalf of our entire team that we would be thrilled for Saquon to go to whichever team drafts him,” Cleveland.com reported Miale answered in a text response. “We know he will be a resounding success for any team fortunate enough to select him.’’

Barkley is considered the best overall player in the draft by many analysts. Interestingly, the Browns did not invite Barkley to Berea for a pre-draft visit. Each team is allowed to invite 30 players to their campus before the draft, but the Browns did not allot one of those spots to Barkley, nor to North Carolina State defensive end Bradley Chubb.

“I don’t think that’s any message to anyone,” Browns coach Hue Jackson said on April 17. “I think maybe we know more information about those particular players more so than others. And we feel very comfortable with what we know. I don’t think it’s not a good sign or is a good sign one way or the other. I just think we feel very comfortable with what we know about those guys at this time.”

Barkley, 5-foot-11, 230 pounds, rushed for 3,843 yards on 671 carries (5.7 average) and caught 102 passes for 1,195 yards (11.8 yard average) in three years at Penn State. He scored 43 rushing touchdowns and eight more through the air.

The biggest knock on Barkley is he is more elusive than powerful, which leads to questions on his ability to break tackles in the NFL.

Many mock drafts have Barkley going to the Giants with the second pick, but the Giants could end up trading the pick to Buffalo or another team looking for a quarterback, or the Giants could draft a quarterback. The Jets are expected to take a quarterback with the third pick.

The Browns are expected to use the first pick on a quarterback, most likely Josh Allen of Wyoming or Sam Darnold of USC. Barkley would be a tempting pick if he is still on the board when the Browns pick fourth.

“Barkley is an explosive runner with a rare combination of size, speed, body control and competitiveness,” ESPN draft analyst Todd McShay wrote. “He displays burst to turn the corner and run away from pursuit when he catches daylight. The top prospect on our board, Barkley projects as a Day 1 every-down back with the elite talent and elite intangibles to become a franchise-changing player. Barkley carries the highest running back grade we’ve given since (Adrian) Peterson.”

Peterson was drafted seventh overall by the Minnesota Vikings in 2007. He has rushed for 12,276 yards playing for the Vikings, Saints and Cardinals.