The New York Giants will be without superstars such as wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. in 2019, but the good news is that they still have reigning AP NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year, Saquon Barkley.
But does the absence of Beckham mean better or worse things for Barkley? What will the presence of Golden Tate provide? And what sort of leaps forward can Sterling Shepard and Evan Engram to expected to make?
Those are all sound questions, but many feel like despite their answers, Barkley will be the team’s MVP in 2019.
One such person is Dan Hanzus of NFL.com, who recently projected every team’s 2019 MVP and understandably landed on Barkley for Big Blue.
New York Giants: Saquon Barkley, RB
Speaking of running back stars with 1,000/1,000 potential, hello, Saquon. Barkley was — for better or worse — the face of the Giants’ offense in 2018, doing his very best in a vanilla offense led by a declining Eli Manning. Defenses seemed to gear up for Barkley every snap, which makes his avalanche of monster plays last season all the more remarkable. Barkley even made an impact when the Giants were trailing (as they often were) — he was essentially gameplan-proof. In 2018, Barkley became just the third player in NFL history to tally 2,000 total yards as a rookie. As the Giants continue to work through their QB soap opera, Barkley will be the one constant.
While the Giants quarterback soap opera doesn’t actually exist in real life, Hanzus is spot-on in his assessment of Barkley’s potential to reach 1,000-plus yards rushing and 1,000-plus yards receiving.
The dual-threat Barkley is as electric and versatile as they come, and now that the Giants have compiled a solid offensive line — which will also revitalize Eli Manning’s production — there’s no telling just how high he can fly. But a team MVP award seems likely.
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