The Saquon Barkley pick was, and still is, a very controversial pick. The reasons for why people don’t like the pick are valid, and at this very moment, these points have been proven relatively true. With that being said, Bleacher Report is dead wrong in ranking him the worst decision the Giants have made the past 5 years.
These are the Giants first round draft picks of the past 5 years excluding 2021: ELI APPLE in 2016, Evan Engram in 2017, Saquon Barkley in 2018, Daniel Jones, Dexter Lawrence, and DEANDRE BAKER in 2019, and Andrew Thomas in 2020. Now pretty much all of these picks still have question marks next to their names excluding Dexter Lawrence, but you might have noticed two players in caps there. Let’s start with Eli Apple. The Giants used the 10thoverall pick on Apple in 2016, and two and a half years later he was being traded for a 4thand 7thround pick. Accusations of him being a locker room cancer and him never living up to his draft stock were the highlights of his Giants tenure. Now, how about DeAndre Baker? You know, the guy the Giants TRADED UP FOR, and then proceeded to have a subpar at best rookie year, all while allegedly falling asleep in meetings, and then of course getting into some legal trouble last summer. Yes, he was proven to be innocent and will have a chance to bounce back in Kansas City, but he is an obvious draft blunder after he only lasted a year on the team. This is just the first round picks of the Giants in the last 5 years, I didn’t even get into the free agent additions and trades that didn’t pan out.
Sure, picking a running back with the number 2 overall pick was a questionable move. But let’s not forget that Saquon had a sensational rookie year, ending in him winning rookie of the year. Although his stats regressed in 2019 due to injury, he still ran for over 1,000 yards, and when he began to get healthy at the end of that season, he started to look like himself again. Time will tell how the Saquon Barkley pick will play out, but there are a number of decisions that we already know for a fact are bad.
(Photo: Joseph Czikk/Big Blue View)
