After his rookie season, the New York Giants organization probably predicted Saquon Barkley becoming one of the top running backs in the league during the years after. That prediction has only partially come true – Barkley has been excellent when fully healthy, but injuries slowed him down in 2019 and caused him to miss almost the entire 2020 season.
Despite that, Barkley still comes into the 2021 season with many experts considering him a top back in the league.
Those experts making optimistic predictions include Pro Football Focus, who placed Barkley at number seven in their running back rankings for the upcoming season.
7. Saquon Barkley, New York Giants
One of the most talented backs in the league, Saquon Barkley embodies the cautionary tale of the position, with both injury and environment combining to limit his effectiveness so far at the pro level. Barkley showed what he was capable of as a rookie, but that is his only season that generated a PFF grade above 80.0.
As expected, the article calls back to his rookie season when talking about his best performance. Barkley is expected but not guaranteed to come back for week one of this season, and all reports so far have indicated his offseason recovery progress is good.
The Giants have brought on Devontae Booker and Corey Clement to add to the running back ranks in free agency, but the hope is that they won’t have to lean on these players and that Barkley will instead pick back up with his rookie season performance.
He was a contender for rushing leader during that rookie year, so at the end of the day, we shouldn’t be surprised if Barkley challenges the leading rushers like Derrick Henry and Dalvin Cook if he can stay healthy.
The number seven ranking, after all, is based largely off the fact that Barkley is coming off back to back injury plagued years. If he’s fully healthy, there’s a good chance we see him step far above being the seventh best running back in the league and back into the nationwide spotlight.