New York Giants: Is Saquon Barkley the smartest pick?

Drafting running back Saquon Barkley may be the safest and smartest play for the New York Giants to make in the first round of the NFL Draft.

Maybe everybody is wrong.

Maybe rumors about New York Giants general manager Dave Gettleman not being enamored with any of the advertised top quarterbacks in this year’s draft class are inaccurate. Perhaps Gettleman and company know the Browns aren’t going to take quarterback Josh Allen and will instead grab the signal-caller Gettleman actually desires. It’s possible the Giants are really in the Sam Darnold business and are keeping it a secret, or that New York found no buyers for the second overall selection.

As individuals such as Walter Cherepinsky of Walter Football have pointed out, the scuttlebutt, to steal his word, is that the Giants aren’t placing the value of the No. 2 pick on any of the quarterbacks. That, above anything else, is why running back Saquon Barkley has repeatedly been linked with the Giants in mock drafts, during television segments and now this piece. Barkley, in a way, is the pick for the Giants by default.

This is no slight on Barkley, nor is it an explanation for why the Giants must or must not draft him. By now, just about everybody reading this sentence has made his or her mind up regarding the matter. You either love or hate the idea of the Giants spending such a high pick and, in time, a ton of money on this running back.

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Scouting reports on Barkley are things of legend. If he hits his astronomically high ceiling and remains healthy into his physical prime, he could be a once-in-a-generation playmaker and a game-changer in every sense of that term. He checks all the boxes. He has great hands and would make for a solid contributor in any pro passing attack. The Giants, or some other team, could use him on kick returns. He can be an effective blocker. There are zero character concerns hovering over the young man who is a gym rat and a local product of the Bronx.

Those things are all positives for the Giants grabbing Barkley, but they aren’t the reasons for why he’ll hold up a Big Blue jersey when his named is called at the draft. The Giants drafting Barkley will serve as final proof that Gettleman, head coach Pat Shurmur and others weren’t willing to risk their careers unofficially declaring any of the quarterbacks of this class as successor to the throne occupied by Eli Manning, a two-time Super Bowl MVP who happens to be the greatest to ever play the position for this storied franchise.

For their own mental health and wellness, fans of the Giants may want to stop entering arguments about which quarterback from the draft will enjoy the best career.  If Gettleman and Shurmur aren’t fully sold on any one of them, so be it. Marrying a potential franchise QB with a front office and/or a coaching staff that didn’t select him and, in fairness, never wanted him often ends in disaster. Look at Johnny Manziel’s tenure with the Browns as evidence.

There could be something to the notion that those in the building remain high on Davis Webb and his potential to replace Manning as quickly as next year. After all, Shurmur has been lauded for developing quarterbacks while with the Philadelphia Eagles and Minnesota Vikings. What if he sees Webb as his next project and wants to surround him with as many weapons as possible?

Those who are against the Giants using valuable assets — the draft pick and the cash — on Barkley and who want the club to trade down make good points, but they need to remember the Giants have to find a willing partner for that transaction. Gettleman cannot just accept whatever offer he gets Thursday night. The market for the second pick has been set by prior trades. Getting less would be a bad look for the GM and the franchise.

Next: Final New York Giants 7-round mock draft

Barkley fills a noticeable hole on the depth chart, he has the Hall of Fame potential Gettleman wants out of a second overall selection, and he helps the Giants work to achieve missions of pursuing one more championship with Manning on the roster and building for the future. Giants fans may not like this pick, but they should prepare themselves for it and hope Barkley is as good as so many believe he will be starting this fall.