Saquon Barkley’s Hype Has Been Stopped at the Line of Scrimmage: Unchecked
Saquon Barkley has a signature shoe on the way, and if you wear it, you too could be stopped at the line scrimmage.
The problems with the New York Giants go way beyond Barkley, I no longer believe he’s a transcendent talent that will justify having taken a running back near the top of the draft.
To be fair, he is coming off a major injury and there is no doubting his explosive ability. The problem with Saquon is there is no consistency. He either gets a big gain, or nothing, which makes it hard for the offense to consistently move the chains.
Barkley is kind of the equivalent of a home run hitter who can’t get on base if he doesn’t go yard. Which was on display against the Washington Football Team as he had one gain of 41, and 12 other carries for a total of 16 yards.
That is a pattern, not an isolated event. Barkley has more games under 50 yards than he does over 100 and as Albert Breer pointed out in his mailbag, the majority of his 100-yard games were in large part due to a run of 50 yards or more.
Perhaps with better circumstances or utilization, like a larger role as a receiver, Saquon’s stellar big-play prowess could be better leveraged. But given current results, he’s been a part of the giant problems with Big Blue and not a solution.
Because Daniel Jones should not feel like as big a threat on the ground as Saquon Barkley.
