Devin Singletary downplays being in Saquon Barkley's 'shadow' on Giants

The New York Giants suffered a major loss in free agency when Saquon Barkley, the team's best offensive skill position player by far, departed for the division rival Philadelphia Eagles. Barkley has his injury concerns, but he was one of, if not the only watchable player on what was an anemic Giants offense all of last season. He's one of the most talented running backs in the NFL. Losing him is a huge deal.

As for what the Giants did to replace Barkley, the answer is, well, not much. They got better in the receiver room with the Malik Nabers pick in the first round of the NFL Draft, but they don't have much of a running game.

The player they signed to replace Barkley as the team's starter is Devin Singletary, who agreed to a three-year deal soon after Barkley left. Rather than show any sort of nervousness after taking over for the former No. 2 overall pick, Singletary downplays being in Barkley's 'shadow'.

Devin Singletary doesn't care about being Saquon Barkley's heir apparent

When asked about his thoughts when it came to replacing Barkley, here's what Singletary had to say.

"I don't know, just ball out, win games, I think that's the biggest thing," Singletary said, h/t NFL.com. "That's our focus anyway -- win games. We ain't really worried about 'The Shadow of Saquon' or none of that. It's just find ways to win games."

All Singletary is focused on is being the best version of himself and finding ways to win. For all Giants fans out there, that's exactly what they should want to hear from their new RB1.

Singletary is not Saquon. Not even close. The 26-year-old set a career-high with 896 yards rushing last season for the Houston Texans. He averaged 4.2 yards per carry and had four touchdowns on the ground. He's a fine player, but in seasons in which Barkley has appeared in at least 14 games, he's topped that yard total. Singletary needed 17 games just to get to that 898-yard mark. Singletary is not Barkley, and that's ok.

The signing did make sense, considering Singletary played for head coach Brian Daboll when they were both with the Buffalo Bills. Not to mention, current Giants general manager Joe Schoen was an assistant general manager for the Bills during Singletary's time in Buffalo.

Singletary's ultimate goal is to find a way to win. That's something that the Giants didn't do much of at all with Barkley in town. If he can somehow find a way to lead this Giants team to wins in 2024 and potentially beyond, nobody will care about the former running back.