The New York Giants offensive backfield starts with Saquon Barkley and then there’s everyone else. Barkley has been the focal point of the Giants’ offense from the day he stepped through the doors at 1925 Giants Drive in 2018 and little has happened to change that.
But the NFL has a way of usurping even the best laid plans. Last year, Barkley suffered a high ankle sprain in the Giants’ Week 3 victory over Tampa Bay and did not recover fully until very late in the season. The Giants’ offense suffered greatly without a healthy Barkley.
The rushing game, especially suffered. Barkley still led the Giants with 217 ruses for 1,003 yards but no other running back had more than 30 carries. They realized more depth was needed.
This offseason, they added veteran Dion Lewis and recently signed Tavian Feaster. Those two join Barkley, fullback Eli Penny and fourth year pro Wayne Gallman to comprise the Giants’ 2020 backfield.
Gallman was a forgotten man in 2019. Somehow the former Clemson star landed in Pat Shurmur’s doghouse. Gallman had just 44 total touches for 212 total yards and three scores. To be fair, a concussion sustain in Week vs Minnesota curtailed his chance to shine in Barkley’s absence. But even after the was cleared two weeks later, he could not distinguish himself. By seasons’ end, Gallman was a regular on the gameday inactive list.
With a new coaching staff comes a new opportunity for Gallman. In Friday’s Blue-White scrimmage, Gallman made the most of his snaps by scoring two touchdowns, one on  43-yard run in the first quarter and the second on a five-yard pass from backup QB Cooper Rush in the third period.
The Giants’ coaches have taken notice that Gallman can help this team and in this league, you can never have enough depth.
“He’s a guy who’s really flashed over the course of the entire training camp,” head coach Joe Judge said  of Gallman after the scrimmage. “He’s a guy that we’ve challenged and told him we want to see how he responds in competitive situations. Obviously tonight, he had a good night. But he’s a guy that’s shown a lot of potential throughout his career. He’s shown a lot of improvement for us, and we’re happy with the night he had tonight.”
Yes, it was a very comforting to see that there is more to the Giants’ backfield than Barkley. Gallman has apparently won over Judge but he also has impressed his position coach, Burton Burns, who comes to Giants after coaching running backs at Clemson (1999-2006) and Alabama (2007-19) the past two decades.
“I see a guy that’s coming to work every day, that’s working really hard,” Burns told reporters when asked about Gallman earlier this month. “Again, he is very interested in improving. I had a history with Wayne as far as we competed against his team in college. I kind of followed his career, I knew him a little.
His personality is like all the players that I’ve coached. He’s got his competitive nature. I know I’m overusing that word, but it keeps coming up. He’s also got that ‘what can I do to get better (mentality)’. I know it’s the college level and the pro level. One thing about all those guys, it doesn’t matter, they are looking for that next step they can take.”
Just another refreshing example of how this coaching staff is bringing the best out of this roster.