On Friday, news broke that the New York Giants signed running back James Robinson, who is a former 1,000-yard rusher. Could this mean more than we think? This could mean a lot, but it could also mean nothing at all.
The Giants signed James Robinson, who was most recently with the New England Patriots earlier this offseason. The former 1,000 rusher with the Jacksonville Jaguars now has a new home, and the signing likely has a ton to do with the status of Saquon Barkley, who has not signed his franchise tender and did not receive a long-term offer to his liking from the Giants.
Barkley does seem to be firm in his stance, and him holding out further into the offseason could complicate things for the Giants, who would be missing a key piece of their offense, and someone that made life easier for Daniel Jones.
We have signed RB James Robinson pic.twitter.com/GI7NqQVWfN
— New York Giants (@Giants) July 21, 2023
Robinson, 25 in August, rushed for 1,070 yards during his rookie year in 2020 with the Jaguars. He followed that up with a 767 yard rushing season, but a torn Achilles has complicated things. In 2022, Robinson played in 11 games between the Jaguars and the New York Jets, rushing for 425 yards on just 3.9 yards per carry.
It’s a possibility that Robinson is not fully comfortable with his return from the Achilles injury, but his ceiling is a clear-cut RB1 in the NFL. The big question here is what this signing could mean for the New York Giants.
Is this just a move to fill the RB room in Barkley’s absence, or could this be indicative of something bigger? That bigger that I’d be talking about is the likely off chance that the Giants would consider trading Saquon Barkley.
Barkley would not be able to be traded until he signed his franchise tender, but in this scenario, the team acquiring him would likely have to re-sign him to a deal of his liking at some point, and maybe the relationship between Barkley and the Giants is broken beyond repair.
Perhaps the New York Giants are confident that Barkley ends up signing the tender and eventually reports back to the team, but I don’t think there is a guarantee that happens yet. Perhaps the Giants are making this signing in preparation for the worst.