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Saquon Barkley Ranked Tenth Among Offensive Players in New NFL Ranking

NFL.com analyst and former Giants quarterback David Carr put his list of the league's top offensive players together and has Giants running back Saquon Barkley as his tenth-best player and third-best running back. Is the ranking accurate?

NFL Network analyst and one-time Giants quarterback David Carr believes there are nine offensive players in the NFL better than Saquon Barkley.

In his initial offensive player rankings heading into the 2020 season, Carr listed Barkley as the tenth-best offensive player in the league this season, and third-best running back behind Christian McCaffrey and Ezekiel Elliott, explaining his breakdown as follows:

Barkley is one of the most valuable non-quarterbacks in the league. Giants QB Daniel Jones had a 95.5 passer rating and 21:6 TD-to-INT ratio with Barkley on the field in 2019. Without Barkley, Jones recorded a 59.9 rating and 3:6 TD-to-INT ratio. He's rushed for at least 1,000 yards in each of his two seasons, but the third-year running back has flown somewhat under the radar due to the lack of team success in New York. I'm expecting Barkley to run right into a career year and vie for the rushing title in 2020.

While McCaffrey and Elliott were both more productive in 2019 (both also didn't have a high ankle sprain as Barkley did), Barkley not only has the talent to turn the tables this year, he has himself a very similar offensive system as run by Jason Garrett with a few new wrinkles that helped Elliott find success.

Elliott's success had a lot to do with how heavily Garrett utilized him in the offense. Over the past four seasons, Elliott averaged more carries per game (20.9) than any other NFL player. Elliott even finished second among running backs with 431 routes run last season.

However, the difference with Barkley is that he might not even need as many carries or catches as Elliott to win the competition for most yardage.

Barkley's rare speed and elusiveness allow him to break off for more big chunk plays and is a threat to score from any field position. His 13 plays of at least 50 yards since 2018 are the most by any player the NFL, and it's that big-play ability is what pushes Barkley ahead of the pack.

Many of the other players on Carr's list certainly have elite talent and are among the best at their position, making a straight apples-to-apples comparison tricky. 

It's also worth noting that seven of the other ten players on the list played on an offense that finished in the top 10 last year, while the Giants offense finished 22nd in the NFL, the lowest of any unit that boasts one of Carr's top ten players.

Barkley's 13 runs of 50+ yards pretty much had everything to do exclusively with his ability as his run blocking last year was, at times, spotty.

It also didn't help that the Giants offense went through other turbulence, starting with a quarterback change after only two weeks into the season and the injuries that hit the tight end and wide receiver positions.

Through it all and with the lingering effects of the high ankle sprain that Barkley would later admit bothered him after he returned, he was still able to still finish with over 1,000 rushing yards.

This year, expectations and hopes are high. With an added year of chemistry with quarterback Daniel Jones, offensive line additions, and a receiving group that returns its top three contributors (Golden Tate, Sterling Shepard, and Darius Slayton), Barkley might finally be the one to benefit from a functional offense.

It will be a big year, indeed for Barkley. After this season, he will be eligible to seek a contract extension, as McCaffrey did this off-season. 

The Giants undoubtedly would love to make Barkley a Giant for life, given all he brings on the field and off it. Best of all for both parties, Barkley is approaching that young-veteran career mark where running backs have typically put together their best years. 

He should have the benefit of playing an offensive system that takes full advantage of his ability in 2020.