There’s been a lot of disappointments this season for the New York Giants. The team was expected to make progress from last year, and to possibly compete for the division, but instead the results have been about the same as they were last year and some areas such as the secondary appear to have taken a step back.
Daniel Jones has performed well for a rookie quarterback, but his potential has been limited by injuries to major players on offense as well as lackluster playcalling and an offensive line incapable of doing an above average job protecting him.
According to the New York Post, however, neither the secondary or the offensive line is the biggest disappointment this season.
That title belongs to Saquon Barkley, who was given the title of ‘biggest disappointment’ of the season due to his quiet performances this year. Barkley, of course, has been dealing with injury this year, which has likely been the reason behind his below average performance against the Lions and his abysmal game against the Jets, which was the worst of his NFL career.
There’s still a chance for Barkley to prove the article wrong, but with the Giants well into the second half of the season at this point and with little support from the offensive line, it doesn’t seem like Barkley will be seen at full strength again during this season.
Still, Barkley has refused to be shut down for the rest of the year, and the coaching staff seem willing to run with that, at least for now.
Is Barkley the biggest disappointment? At the end of the day, it seems like there’s other things the Giants have experienced this year that have had more of an impact on them than Barkley’s injury and poor performances in the games following his return. The least of which isn’t poor coaching and poor play on the offensive line – both of those things, despite not being players, have had a constant impact on the season for the Giants after all.
We’ll have to wait and see how Barkley plays during the remaining six games of the season, but after many projected Barkley as the offensive MVP at the start of the year, the season will at the very least be very personally disappointing for the player.