The Giants’ choice to let Saquon Barkley stroll and signal with their rival Philadelphia Eagles already confounds the soccer world.
“That might be the worst executive move I’ve seen since Babe Ruth left Boston and went to the New York Yankees,” longtime NFL agent Leigh Steinberg mentioned on the Talkin’ Ball with Pat Leonard podcast on Friday. “How could you let an irreplaceable player like that go to a team in your division? I don’t get that.”
Now think about Barkley standing on the stage Sunday lifting the Lombardi Trophy in Eagles inexperienced. The magnitude of Joe Schoen’s misevaluation would escalate to historic proportions.
It might develop into the GM’s legacy and the Giants’ new model:
They have been the franchise that allow a participant stroll into top-of-the-line seasons in NFL historical past to steer their arch rival to a Tremendous Bowl.
Take into consideration that.
What a surreal expertise it was, too, to observe Barkley’s Eagles gamers congratulate him in a tribute video after he gained the NFL’s Offensive Participant of the 12 months award on Thursday night time. Receiver DeVonta Smith known as him “Superman” and thanked Barkley for “helping lead this team.”
Rookie nook Cooper DeJean mentioned Barkley is “probably one of the best football players I’ve ever watched.”
Left sort out Jordan Mailata informed Barkley that “the character that you have, brother, man stands out more than the player you are.”
“It means a lot to me just to be your teammate,” security C.J. Gardner-Johnson mentioned. “One of the best running backs of all time. I [get to] explain to my kids I played with the best running backs of all time.”
Then Mailata made it much more private.
“I love you, bro,” the Eagles’ left sort out mentioned.
It was all of the sentiment of Barkley’s longtime Giants teammates — who performed with him from 2018-2023 and knew his worth to the locker room, not simply the staff — popping out of the mouths of Eagles gamers who haven’t even recognized Barkley personally for a calendar 12 months.
The tribute bolstered not simply how instant of an influence Barkley has made on the Eagles as a frontrunner, however how traditionally distinctive it’s for a participant in his place to have this type of impact on a staff.
“His leadership is very similar to the leadership I saw from Ray Lewis with the Baltimore Ravens when we won the Super Bowl in 2012,” mentioned Michigan defensive coordinator Wink Martindale, who’s a candidate to develop into the Saints’ new DC if the Giants’ Mike Kafka lands the New Orleans head teaching job. “His effect as a leader is the same thing you see in the great leadership of any Super Bowl team.
“Very rarely do you talk about a non-quarterback and his leadership this way. It’s rare,” Martindale added. “But there are players who can will their team to win, and that’s what you’re watching with Saquon. His leadership is real. What you hear him say is real.”
Martindale pointed to how Barkley is consistently crediting his offensive line, quarterback Jalen Hurts — anybody however himself.
“And after they beat Washington in the NFC Championship Game, every player in Philly is talking about Saquon because of his leadership,” Martindale mentioned.
Then the Wolverines’ DC, unprompted, mentioned the identical phrases Mailata did about Barkley, whom he labored with on the Giants from 2022-23.
“I love him,” Martindale mentioned.
All of it will stay true about Barkley even when the Eagles don’t win on Sunday. It’ll nonetheless go down as an all-time season and an unbelievable story.
“I thought that Saquon Barkley was the MVP of the league this year,” Steinberg mentioned. “If you look at the effect of a single player on a team, he’s it. There’s this pre-prejudice against running backs and devaluation. But he’s the guy. And he’s a culture changer.
“His work ethic, the way he relates to other people, his humility, means you put him in a locker room and other people will look up to that and follow that,” he added. “He’s a dynamic force.”
Barkley’s dedication and drive, although, feels prefer it may elevate the Eagles to really get it finished in Tremendous Bowl 59.
“I’m more worried for the Chiefs about Saquon’s impact in the game even than Jalen Hurts,” Steinberg mentioned. “They’re both important, but when Saquon is on like he was a couple weeks ago, he’s unstoppable. It’s indefensible.”
The Eagles’ operating sport is indefensible. So is the Giants’ choice to let a house run hitter with management in his DNA go to Philadelphia – a modern-day Babe Ruth-sized mistake.
