The 2018 NFL Draft is less than three months away and the excitement around who the New York Giants will pick second overall continues to grow. Will they draft a quarterback, possibly UCLA's Josh Rosen or USC's Sam Darnold? What if they go in a totally different direction and select a running back? If the Giants second overall pick was up to ESPN's NFL Draft Expert Mel Kiper Jr. the Giants would select Penn State running back Saquon Barkley second overall.
Stick with us in the Chat Sports app or follow NFL by Chat Sports on Facebook to be the 1st to know every breaking story and all the rumors on the NFL!
Kiper believes Barkley makes the most sense for the Giants franchise.
“Barkley would make the most sense,” Kiper said on a podcast with Todd McShay. “Obviously, then you could look at a quarterback maybe down the line. The Giants drafted Davis Webb last year out of California. We’ll see, but to take the quarterback, the heir apparent to Eli Manning, that would be the debate."
“Now it would make it a little easier if Cleveland did take Barkley and then you could say, ‘OK, where do we go now? Do we take the guard Quenton Nelson or do we take the quarterback?’ It would depend how Giants general manager Gettleman would feel about these three quarterbacks. Is there one that he deems a potential franchise guy and as the heir apparent to Eli who could be that big-time quarterback? If he feels there is one of those guys and Barkley is gone, then you take the quarterback.”
The Giants had one of the worst running games in the NFL last season, the Giants finished 26th in yards (1,549) and finished tied for 28th in rushing touchdowns (6). Enter Barkley, who is probably the best pure talent in this draft class. He can do it all out of the backfield and has no real weaknesses to his game. Barkley would be able to shoulder a heavy workload and take pressure off Manning.
In his final season at Penn State he carried the ball 217 times for 1,217 yards, 18 touchdowns and 54 receptions for 632 yards and three touchdowns. Barkley has drawn comparisons to Arizona Cardinals running back David Johnson and Hall of Fame running back LaDainian Tomlinson.
Check out our New York Giants team page for all the latest Giants rumors or download the Chat Sports App!
FOLLOW: Mitchell Renz is the Senior Writer & On-Air Host at Chat Sports. Check out his article archive and live videos on Chat Sports Facebook page. Please follow him on Twitter @MitchellRenz365.
Back to the New York Giants Newsfeed