Conventional wisdom in the NFL is that you pay quarterbacks and replace running backs. The former is cherished. The latter is expendable.
Maybe that’s what, in the end, drove the New York Giants‘ braintrust to make one of the most brainless decisions in recent league history — doubling down on quarterback Daniel Jones despite an absence of evidence in his ability and thus leaving themselves without the resources to keep running back Saquon Barkley, who redefines value at his position.
In the end, it’s going to cost everyone their jobs after it already cost the Giants (2-8) another season.
Jones was benched Monday for backup Tommy DeVito, presumably ending Jones’ six seasons in New York with a dismal 22-44-1 record as a starter.
Barkley, meanwhile, is in Philadelphia, coming off a 146-yard, two-touchdown rushing performance (plus another 52 receiving yards) in a victory over Washington as the 8-2 Eagles, who scooped in to outbid the Giants last offseason, dream of the Super Bowl.
Barkley, with his 1,137 rushing yards and 10 total scores on the season, is a reasonable inclusion in any league MVP talk.
Make no mistake, one decision led to the other, a series of NFC East dominoes where the smart take from the confused.
After the 2022 season, the Giants were looking to work long-term deals with — or place a franchise tag on — Jones and Barkley. Jones had been a reach of a draft selection at sixth overall in 2019 coming out of Duke. He’d done little to show he deserved a contract extension. New York was coming off a playoff appearance, including a wild-card weekend victory, but Jones’ production didn’t seem to be the reason — just 15 touchdowns that season. In the 31-7 playoff loss to Philly, he threw for just 135 yards and no touchdowns.
Meanwhile, Barkley was not just the face of the Giants’ franchise but the heart of it — an otherworldly skilled back. He had rushed for 1,312 yards and 10 scores and as the key to the Giants’ offense, no doubt played a massive role in whatever success Jones did have.
Yet it was Jones who the Giants dropped a four-year extension worth up to $160 million on, leading to a $47.855 million salary-cap hit for the 2024 season, according to Spotrac.com.
That same offseason, the Giants offered Barkley a three-year deal that topped out at just $13 million, per the New York Post. Only $19.5 million was guaranteed. Barkley declined. The Giants franchise-tagged him for the 2023 season (at $10.1 million for the season), but after battling through injuries the relationship between player and front office was soured.
New York told Barkley to go out and test the free-agent market and they would consider matching the best offer. Seemingly sensing the situation might backfire, Giants owner John Mara told general manager Joe Schoen on HBO’s “Hard Knocks” that “I’m going to have a tough time sleeping if Saquon goes to Philadelphia.”
Schoen banked on limited interest in a 27-year-old running back. He was wrong. Philly outbid Houston and Chicago, offering a three-year, $37.75 million contract, with $26 million guaranteed (more than New York was willing to give a season prior).
The Giants were cooked.
Barkley has been cast as a villain to New York fans, but in the end he wound up with far more guaranteed money and hasn’t appeared to have lost a step.
If anything, getting to a team with championship aspirations has reinvigorated his career. It was just two weeks ago, after all, he leaped backward over a defender, showing his athletic ability hasn’t dissipated.
Jones, meanwhile, has been a mess this season without his star ball carrier. His completion percentage has decreased to 63.3 percent from 67.5 percent the season before and he’s tossed seven interceptions against just eight touchdowns.
Whereas Barkley is averaging 5.8 yards per carry in Philly, the entire Giants run game is at just 4.4 yards per attempt without him.
Most notably, the Giants recently lost to lowly Carolina.
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Jones is now on the bench, unlikely — barring injury — to ever throw another pass in a Giants uniform. What exactly led New York to believe in a quarterback who never showed much over a running back who did everything remains a mystery. Had it franchised Jones for the 2023 season and then moved on after he played just six games due to injury, New York could have tried to get involved in the rich quarterback draft class last spring — six taken in the top dozen selections.
Instead the Giants will enter this offseason with a high draft pick, but few exciting QB options coming out of college. Scouts told Yahoo’s Charles Robinson this could be a historically weak group of passers.
Positional value is a thing, but teams can’t operate solely on a spreadsheet. At some point real value — on the field, in complementing others productivity and in the locker room — has to be recognized.
The Giants went big for Daniel Jones and tried to scrimp on Saquon Barkley.
Now everyone back in New York is going to be out of a job while the running back keeps sprinting for more daylight, with more money, in Philly.