Giants news, 1/1/19: Saquon Barkley can’t wait for 2019 season

Happy New Year, New York Giants fans! As we turn the page on 2018 and begin the looooong wait for a new season, here are your first headlines of 2019.

Saquon Barkley continues to believe

After a difficult 5-11 season, running back Saquon Barkley said Monday he wished the team could “get started right away” on next season. He continues to feel like the Giants are heading in the right direction.

“I believe that we’re very close and to be completely honest, I think what we have here is special. I wasn’t here the year before, but we’re not the team that we were when we went 3-13,” Barkley said. “Obviously, we went 5-11 and that’s not the record that we would like, but we’re close. We’re really close and I believe that’s going to show next year if we continue to believe in each other, continue to work and continue to grind and have that dog mentality that we showed this year. I think it’s going to fall our way differently next year.

Olivier Vernon: Future not in his hands

EDGE player Olivier Vernon is one of the highly-paid veteran Giants, along with Janoris Jenkins and Eli Manning, whose future with the Giants isn’t clear.

“That’s really out of my hands right there. All I’m really focusing on is today. So, Happy New Year everybody, and that’s it,” Vernon said on Monday. “I’d love to be back. Again, it’s out of my control right there.”

Landon Collins wants to be a Giant

Safety Landon Collins can be a free agent this offseason, but doesn’t sound like he wants to be.

“My hopes are to be here, honestly. That’s my hopes. Like I said from the beginning, I’ve been drafted here, I want to finish my career here. It’s a hope and it’s a dream of mine, and hopefully make it a reality,” said Collins.

The franchise tag is a possibility for Collins.

“Would I play on it? I mean, I got no choice to play on it,” he said. “It’s not a big concern of mine. I know what I’m capable of. I think we’ll work something out before that. If not, franchise it is.”

Early offseason for Nate Solder

Left tackle Nate Solder is sitting out the playoffs for the first time in his career.

“Well you’re disappointed in the wins and losses column. Obviously we had so many close games and so many close calls and we didn’t play the way we wanted to play for a lot of the season so those are disappointing I suppose, but then again that’s life and you grow and you’re getting better and you’re improving and you don’t get caught up in losses like you don’t get caught up in the wins and you move forward.”

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