The only playmaker more busy than Saquon Barkley through eight weeks of the NFL season is an MVP candidate on an undefeated team.
The rookie Giants running back’s 169 touches and 1,016 yards from scrimmage are second in the league behind only Todd Gurley, whose 200 touches and 1,151 yards have the Rams chasing a Super Bowl.
Though Barkley’s numbers haven’t translated to team success the way Gurley’s have, the rookie’s heavy workload will be something to monitor as he tries to avoid hitting a rookie wall when the Giants get back from their bye week to begin the second half of the season.
“I kind of think the rookie wall is all in your mind, to be completely honest,” Barkley said this week. “There’s going to be wear and tear on your body, that’s just the nature of the sport, no matter if you’re a rookie or if you’re 10 years deep in the league. So my mindset is just staying in it every single day, staying positive every single day, continuing to work every single day and get better.”
Staying positive may get harder as the 1-7 Giants play out the string of a season gone wrong, but Barkley has provided some hope for the future. Entering the bye, he has half of the Giants’ 14 touchdowns while taking 111 carries for 519 yards and five touchdowns and catching 58 passes for 497 yards and two touchdowns.
The debate about whether the organization was right to draft Barkley with the No. 2 pick, therefore passing on a quarterback, will rage on for years to come. Nothing Barkley does will be able to change that, but he’s only focused on improving himself.
“I’m still learning,” Barkley said. “Still trying to figure out what I can do as a player, what type of player I can be.”
Since missing time in the preseason with a strained hamstring, Barkley has not shown up at all on the Giants’ injury report. His health may be his biggest competitor in the race for the NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year.
Barkley isn’t the leading rookie rusher at the halfway point — that title belongs to Broncos undrafted free agent Phillip Lindsay, who has 531 yards on 93 carries — but Barkley does lead all rookies in catches, receiving yards and total yards per game (127).
Barkley’s rushing yardage has been bolstered by some explosive plays. His 13 longest carries have gone for a combined 339 yards while his other 98 rushes have resulted in 180 yards.
Running behind a struggling offensive line, Barkley is 14th in the league with 64.9 rushing yards per game and the Giants are 31st as a team — leaving plenty of room for improvement in the second half.
“As a running back, you definitely hold responsibility for that,” Barkley said. “You want to be up there in the league and in the ranks. That’s something we can improve on our team. That’s something we know and something we’re going to have to challenge ourselves to do in the second half of the season.”
Before then, Barkley will get some time to rest his mind and body. The most he played in a single college season was 14 games in 2016, when Penn State captured the Big Ten championship and went to the Rose Bowl.
The different grind of a first full NFL season is far from over.
“From what I’ve learned from vets all across the league and on this team is sometimes it’s good to step away from it a little bit,” Barkley said. “Maybe one or two or three days. Just spend time, do something to get your mind off of it and then just come back ready to work.”
Source: Read Full Article