The New York Giants have made some high-quality picks in Round 1 of the NFL Draft over the past decade, but who was the best?
Jason Pierre-Paul, David Wilson, Odell Beckham Jr., Evan Engram, Dexter Lawrence, Daniel Jones and Saquon Barkley are just some of the players Big Blue landed in the first round, but Gary Davenport of Bleacher Report believes one shines brighter than the rest.
It’s Odell, right? Wrong.
Davenport actually believes Barkley is New York’s best first-round pick of the past 10 years, and he recently explained why.
A case can be made that even though Odell Beckham Jr. plays in Cleveland, the star receiver remains New York’s best Round 1 pick since 2010. And maybe if the G-Men had gotten more in the trade with the Browns, the 2014 pick would merit more consideration.
But the Giants didn’t, so we’ll stick with a player who remains an important part of the Giants offense.
In fact, he’s the most important part of the New York attack.
Whether the Giants should have used the second overall pick in the 2018 draft on a running back is a valid question. There’s no question, though, that Saquon Barkley is legit.
In his first season, Barkley was a force of nature—he averaged five yards per carry, caught 91 passes, topped 2,000 total yards, scored 15 touchdowns and brought home Offensive Rookie of the Year honors.
Barkley’s numbers came down in 2019 (largely due to a high ankle sprain that cost him three games), but he enters his third season as one of the NFL’s most dangerous players with a football in his hands.
The debate may forever rage over general manager Dave Gettleman using the second overall pick on a running back, but as Davenport alludes, there are precious few athletes on Barkley’s level of explosiveness. He’s a potential game-changer every time he touches the ball, and it really doesn’t matter what position you play when you can impact a game that way.
Would we agree that Barkley is the best first-round selection of the Giants since 2010? The argument could be made, but however you may feel about him, it’s difficult to slight Beckham.
