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Good morning, New York Giants fans! Lots to get to this morning, including talk about Odell Beckham Jr. and Saquon Barkley. Let’s get right to it.
Matt Millen says Barkley right pick for Giants | SI.com
“On that FOX telecast, I said, basically, ‘Dave Gettleman’s got experience. He’s been here before. He knows how to build a team. With this draft coming up, it’s a big draft. If I was them, I’d take Saquon Barkley, the running back from Penn State. He will change the offense.’
“I would like Saquon for every team. I’ve been following him, I know him, I watched him at Penn State, and he could always make you miss. I kept hearing, You gotta get rid of Eli, he’s done. Ridiculous. He had no line. He had no running game. Odell [Beckham, the wide receiver] was hurt. How do you judge a quarterback on that?
“What Dave was gonna do was fix the offensive line, which he’s done some of now, with Nate Solder [at left tackle] and the UTEP kid [Will Hernandez] in the draft at guard. Saquon’s gonna have to calm down on his make-you-miss. But his receiving is really gonna be a huge factor. He’s not to where Marshall Faulk was in the passing game yet, but he opens your offense up. He changes how a defense has to address you. Eli and [coach] Pat Shurmur can manipulate that. That’s an advantage for New York. To me, now, Eli can beat you with his arm, but he can really beat you with his head.”
John Mara of New York Giants hopeful Odell Beckham will remain with team long term
"I wouldn't say sense of urgency. The contract will get done when it's supposed to get done," Mara said. "I think that is the [general manager] Dave Gettleman line. I think I'm going to adopt that. All spring, all summer, as long as it takes."
Victor Cruz advises Odell Beckham Jr. to ‘keep your head down and play football’ - NY Daily News
All eyes will be on Odell Beckham Jr. this summer before the start of the 2018 season.
Victor Cruz, ex-New York Giants WR, hoping for return to NFL
Victor Cruz, 31, believes he still can play in the NFL and is hoping one of the 32 teams agrees.
PFF's top 5 offensive Rookie of the Year candidates for 2018 | NFL Analysis | Pro Football Focus
Threading the needle on Saquon Barkley has been a challenge throughout this draft process. A supremely talented player, and one of the best pure athletes in this draft, Barkley does have flaws to his game which many were often too keen to ignore or sweep under the rug. When the Giants selected him at No.2 overall in the draft though, they made a public statement about what kind of generational talent they believe him to be, and did so knowing they were passing up a once-in-a-generation chance to pick a quarterback that high in the draft (the last time the Giants picked that high was 1981). The team understands how to get a multi-talented back the ball in a variety of different ways (new head coach Pat Shurmur just coached Jerrick McKinnon to a career year with the Minnesota Vikings), and Barkley could well have a huge workload that flashes big plays and touchdowns regularly.
Barkley saw 132 targets over the past three seasons at Penn State, with the number increasing each year, and only two backs had a higher breakaway percentage than he did this past season, breaking off 19 runs of 15 or more yards.
Curtis Martin calls Giants rookie Saquon Barkley ‘one of the best runners I’ve seen’ | Newsday
“I think he’ll be a really good fit,” Hall of Famer Curtis Martin said on Tuesday at the BTIG Charity Day in Manhattan. “If I were the Giants, that’s probably the pick that I would have made. I think he’ll be a great addition to the team. I think he’s a unique weapon for Eli to have because he’s as good a receiver as he is a running back as you’re going to get coming out of the backfield, and he’s one if the best runners I’ve seen.”
Phil Simms a fan of Giants’ win-now approach | Newsday
“They’ve made it abundantly clear from the word go, as soon as this past season ended, what they’re going to try to do,” he said on Tuesday at the BTIG Charity Day in Manhattan. “Keep the team together, fix it up a little, let Eli [Manning] be the quarterback, and try to win this year. This is not ‘we drafted Saquon [Barkley] to win and get in the playoffs in three years.’ It’s about this year. They put a lot of pressure on themselves. I understand what they’re doing.”
Accorsi: Why Saquon Barkley is "an ideal pick" for Giants - Talk Of Fame Radio.
Ernie Accorsi was the Giants’ GM who found coach Tom Coughlin and quarterback Eli Manning in the same year. That would be 2004, and we all know what happened: They led the Giants to two Super Bowl defeats of New England.
But Coughlin is gone, Manning is 37 and the Giants are trying to get back to winning with a new coach, a new GM, a new cast and … well, and Eli Manning. The question, of course, is: How do they get there? And new GM Dave Gettleman answered with last month’s pick of Penn State running back Saquon Barkley with the second overall choice of the NFL draft.
“The best running back I’ve seen come out of college in 20 years,” Accorsi said on this week’s Talk of Fame Network podcast. “I told Dave, ‘If you don’t pick Barkley, it’s a good thing the draft is in Dallas. Because if it were in Radio City (Music Hall), you’re going to get booed.’
“I just thought that, if they were going to commit to Eli for another couple of years, and given the talent they have on offense … and given the fact that he had almost completely rebuilt the offensive line … it was a no-brainer to me.
“They can make a run. With that talent they have on offense, it’s explosive … I just think it was an ideal pick. He’s a great player.”
WATCH: Saquon Barkley should have been No. 1 pick, ex-Giants DE Justin Tuck says | NJ.com
The Giants decision to pass on quarterbacks Sam Darnold, Josh Rosen, and Josh Allen to take running back Saquon Barkley in last month's NFL Draft has been criticized by some as not maximizing the value of the No. 2 overall pick.