Saquon Barkley on Eli Manning, Jonathan Stewart, being a dad, more

The New York Giants decided to go all in at No. 2 in the 2018 NFL Draft by drafting running back Saquon Barkley out of Penn State. On Monday, at the Giants’ first day of OTAs, Barkley spoke with the media. Lets take a look at some takeaways from his time with the media.

On how it went out there with the veterans Monday...

“It went really well,” Barkley said. “It was finally cool to be out there. Obviously we had like walk through stuff before, but we actually got to practice against the defense today and I felt that I did really well, I feel like the offense is coming to me a lot quicker. But yeah, at the end of the day, it’s football and I had a lot of fun.”

On fellow Giants running back Jonathan Stewart...

“Oh, yeah. Stewart is an awesome dude,” Barkley said. “Obviously he is a great vet. I’m just over here trying to watch him, trying to learn from him every single day and all the vets and all the running backs let me come in with open arms and it’s been great. They are great leaders and I look forward to continuing learning from them throughout my career.”

On developing chemistry with Eli Manning...

“It has been amazing,” Barkley said. “Obviously he is a great guy; he’s a great quarterback. But he’s so knowledgeable about the game – he knows every single play where you’re supposed to be, where everybody is supposed to be and literally he can look this way and this guy ran a wrong route and he knows that guy already ran a wrong route, so I just continue to learn from him every single day and ask a lot of questions. I think I’m probably annoying to him a little bit, but I continue to ask him a lot of questions and I just want to expand on my knowledge of the game because that’s going to make me a better player and if I can continue to grow as a better player, then I can continue to help the team.”

On how he is balancing family life so far...

“It actually kind of sucks a little bit – well that came off wrong at first,” Barkley said, quickly trying to take that back. “It kind of sucks because I’m not with my daughter as much as I would love to be because obviously training camp, rookie mini camp, OTAs and then I had to go to L.A. for the Rookie Premiere, but I get to see her this weekend, so that is going to be great to be able to hold her again.”

On whether he feels comfortable lining up in the slot...

“Yeah definitely,” Barkley said. “I definitely feel comfortable with catching the ball out of the backfield and lining up in the slot. Obviously it is very early in the offense and I’m just continuing to learn it, but for me to line up in the slot, I have to show the coaches that I can catch the ball out of the backfield first. I do feel comfortable doing that, but I have to make sure the coaches feel comfortable with me, so that’s every single day coming out here and every single rep and work on my route running, whether it’s in the slot or whether it’s in the backfield and if it’s in the backfield, working on the little things.”

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