Daniel Jones has the tall order to replicate Eli Manning’s legacy. Is It possible? Some might say it is highly unlikely. That became clear with the drastic season the New York Giants had last year. What was another chink in the armor of the Giants was Saquon Barkley leaving the team to join the Philadelphia Eagles. Maybe because the Giants have paid Daniel Jones so much money that they’ve got no option but to protect him (a 4-year $160 million deal to be exact).

In the first episode clip from the series “Hard Knocks: Offseason with the New York Giants”, Joe Schoen, the GM of the side alongside John Mara, the owner of the team, could be seen discussing various matters. This also included the Saquon Barkley situation. The Giants were in a weird place because, on one hand, they wanted to protect Daniel Jones and see if he was really worthy.

On the other, they didn’t want to disrespect Saquon Barkley by offering anything less than he deserved. So, they let Barkley hit the free agency to figure it out for himself. What was the best option for Barkley? Apparently, a 3-year $37.75 million deal with the Eagles.

What about Daniel Jones then? Surprisingly, the Giants still have all the eggs in the same basket and are hell-bent on putting pieces around Daniel. It became clear when the discussion in conversation here came to light to put forth the same side of the story.

“Daniel’s making a lot of money and it’s the forking, like we got to figure out is, is he the guy? So, we got to protect him. We need to put resources there. We have Waller, Belly, a healthy Wan’Dale, Hyatt, Slayton,” said GM Joe Schoen about Daniel Jones. But throughout the conversation, it became clear that the Giants could not afford to keep Barkley around.

“Because we’re not going to franchise him [Barkley], like it doesn’t make any sense to franchise him,” said Schoen and added, “Right, and then could we get something in trading? What are we really going to get unless it got down to like seven million dollars? And I don’t want to offer that because I don’t want to be like we disrespected him.” But let’s sideline the Barkley conversation for a second. Let’s talk about Daniel Jones.

Daniel Jones had the worse season he could imagine last year. 6 games, 909 yards, and 2 touchdowns doesn’t exactly scream $160 million. Especially because the Giants have signed him through the 2026 season. While it’s easy to point fingers at the QB, it’s worthy to know that he’s taken massive hits for his team. A neck injury and an ACL tear is not easy to deal with, but here Jones is, taking criticism like blitzes. Has he recovered? Hopefully so.

Let’s look into the options that Giants GM and owner were discussing. Jalin Hyatt (373 yards, no TDs), and Wan’Dale Robinson (525 yards, 1 TD) aren’t nearly enough for what the Giants are trying to accomplish this year. So, what are the pieces that will make the Giants seems hopeful for the season?

Enter Malik Nabers, the star LSU receiver who has the responsibility of elevating New York’s offense along with Darius Slay, who is a veteran in the league. But even Slay has never had a 1,000+ yard season in his career. What’s crazier about the franchise is that they’ve never won more than 6 games since 2016!

Picks, missed passes, sacks, lack of reading the field is all we saw from Jones last year. They only guy whom the Giants relied on went to the Philadelphia Eagles. It would only make sense to understand Saquon Barkley’s impact on the Giants offense.

What will Daniel Jones be without Saquon Barkley?

Saquon Barkley was easily one of the cornerstone pieces of the New York Giants offense. The guy stayed with them for 6 seasons and peaked in 2022 when he had 1,312 rushing yards with 10 touchdowns. He was just shy of having a 1,000-yard season last year. A pedal ankle sprain in September and an elbow sprain in October slowed him down a bit, allowing him to participate in just 14 games.

So, what made Barkley special? The RB has broken countless franchise records that are hard to ignore. Even in an OT 13-10 loss to the Jets last year, the back managed to have a game high 128 yards ad 36 carries. Read that again, 36 carries in the game might mean that the Giants solely relied on him to run the ball, and they let him go. Even Frank Gore didn’t ever have 36 attempts in a single game.

Want to hear about more records? Barkley is 5 on the list of Giants’ all-time rushing yards in six seasons. His 1,064 rush attempts are seventh in franchise history, while taking a 9 place in the franchise’s books for most total yardage. What more can be said about his importance to the Giants franchise? We’ll let bygones be bygones and focus on the future.

The Giants replaced Barkley with Devin Singletary which is honestly not a bad choice after all. If you’ve seen him run on the field, you might know that this guy is a difference maker. Though short, Singletary slips by even the fiercest defenders, knows how to take hits, and most importantly, he’s consistent at production, and  improving even futher.

He played with the Bills for 4 seasons, so he knows how to manage the cold, but his last season with the Texans was his best one yet. 898 rushing yards and 4 touchdowns is not that bad at all. But Barkley did more in 14 games than what Singletary failed to do even after playing the whole season.

Can you believe that Barkley had 247 carries in the last season, that’s nearly how much the San Francisco 49ers rely on Christian McCaffrey. But times have changed, and Singletary is the one who will have to rush the ball in the face of fierce defenses. Do you see Daniel Jones and his Giants progressing this year?