Saquon Barkley was going to be the biggest of big-city stars, that much was clear after his first NFL season. He had soared over the Dallas Cowboys — Air Jordan style — for a touchdown in the last game of 2018, and he had finished as only the third rookie ever to deliver at least 2,000 rushing and receiving yards.
Barkley had caught more passes, 91, than any rookie running back in league history, and his six rushes of at least 50 yards gave him twice more than any other back that year. The No. 2-overall draft choice called his achievements “the stuff you dream about as a little kid,” and why not?
Everyone was talking about how much fun it would be to watch Barkley dominate for years to come, at least when they weren’t talking about Eli Manning’s diminishing skill on a Giants team that had gone 8-24 over two seasons. If Manning decided to return for one more crack at it, his father Archie told me that night, “The Giants have got to win. They can’t go through another season like this.”
The Giants went through another season like that (with Eli mostly on the bench), and then another (with Eli retired), and now another (with Eli sorta analyzing their “Monday Night Football” games), posting a 12-28 record since Archie Manning said those words. And of all Giants, outside of the executive who drafted him, Barkley has been the embodiment of that record — through no fault of his own.
He couldn’t help the high ankle sprain that compromised his 2019, or the ACL tear that wrecked his 2020, or the freak ankle sprain that has cost him nearly four full games and counting in 2021. Barkley hasn’t been available or hasn’t been himself for so long that it’s almost hard to recall the video-game package of power, speed, and athleticism that compelled the Giants to buck conventional drafting wisdom, and inspired GM Dave Gettleman to say that the Penn State star was “touched by the hand of God.”
Oh, and it wasn’t Barkley’s fault that Gettleman didn’t know better than to take a running back at No. 2. Barkley had told friends that he wanted to go No. 1 and do for the Cleveland Browns what LeBron James had done for the Cleveland Cavaliers, and he believed himself to be the best available player. It was his job to persuade a team to pick him much sooner than later. And it was Gettleman’s job to realize that in a league completely controlled by the quarterback position, he couldn’t fall hopelessly in love with a perfect prospect at another backfield position.
And man, was Barkley ever a perfect prospect, a football star out of central casting with his talent, charisma, and looks. His eastern Pennsylvania mill town, Coplay, threw him a parade before the draft, and after the Giants took him second Barkley honored a promise he made as a child and bought his parents a new house. He was a great player with great character destined to be a great Giant — if only he could stay healthy in a sport that eats its running backs alive.
Barkley has missed 17 of the last 22 games. He seemed almost all the way back against New Orleans last month, when he was good for 126 total yards and two touchdowns, including the winner in overtime. But then he stepped on Jourdan Lewis’s foot in the Dallas game and rolled his left ankle badly. Barkley didn’t want to get in the cart, he said later, “because the last time I was on the cart I was out for the season.”
Wednesday, the Giants placed the injured running back on the reserve/COVID-19 list after he was among those who tested positive for the virus. Barkley is vaccinated, so he can be cleared to play Sunday against Las Vegas with two negative tests in a 24-hour span. Of course, whether his ankle will cooperate is another story.
All in all, the COVID news made for another eventful day at Giants camp, where players, staff, and reporters lined up outside a trailer for testing, and where Joe Judge’s press conference was moved to the middle of the team’s parking lot. The Giants are 2-6 and a fairly safe bet to spend the first days of the offseason unseating Gettleman, who is 17-39 as their GM. Though Gettleman won’t be fired solely for drafting Barkley, his job security and his team’s record would look a lot different had he taken Lamar Jackson or Josh Allen in that spot.
Meanwhile, it’s a damn shame that Saquon Barkley hasn’t been allowed to be Saquon Barkley by a sculpted body that has betrayed him. He deserves an extended run of good health when he returns, and a chance to prove that he can still be the biggest of all big-city stars.