I have had my doubts about Saquon Barkley ever since he was drafted 2nd overall by the New York Giants last April. Partly it's that I'd expect a running back drafted that highly to have been a more dominant college players.
Not that Barkley's wasn't good. He was very, very good. But he wasn't transcendent. For example, among rushers who carried the ball 300 times or more in college, his per carry average doesn't crack the top 250.
Yes, he was at times sensational; Penn St. needed every one of his 305 yards from scrimmage to eke out a win against Iowa. But other times he was not: the Nittany Lions needed more from him in a 21-carry, 44 yard effort against Ohio St.
Then there's another factor. Running backs picked high in the first round do not lead their teams to championships. And I'm not just bowing to recent data suggesting running backs aren't all that valuable. Since 1980, just two running backs picked 1-5 overall, Reggie Bush and Jamal Lewis, won a Super Bowl with the team that drafted them, and of the two only Lewis was a true franchise back.
There are four Hall of Famers picked in the top 5 since 1980: Marshall Faulk, Eric Dickerson, LaDanian Tomlinson, and Barry Sanders. I've heard Barkley mentioned in the same breath as some of them, but they all had more productive college careers.
I wish Barkley well. But I don't see in his history or in the history of the position that he is uniquely suited over other running backs to bring a championship back to New York.
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