Saquon Barkley finds another way to twist the knife to make Giants fans miserable

New York Giants fans knew this would potentially. happen if the team let running back Saquon Barkey enter free agency. If he did what he did in 2024 on the Houston Texans or Chicago Bears, it wouldn't be as painful. It's the fact that Barkley joined their most hated rivals in the Philadelphia Eagles that really stings.

It's hard to fault Barkley for choosing the Eagles, considering they have had a stout offensive line for over a decade. And that decision paid off, as he became the ninth running back ever to rush for 2,000 yards in the regular season. Barkley didn't slow down in the playoffs either, and he is now competing in Super Bowl 59 with a chance to stop the Kansas City Chiefs' three-peat.

It won't be a fun viewing experience for Giants fans, as they watch their former superstar player try to win a Super Bowl for their rivals. There's no way for Giants fans to possibly feel worse heading into the big game, right? Wrong.

While speaking with reporters on Wednesday, via Paul Schwartz of the New York Post, Barkley was asked about former Giants general manager Dave Gettleman called him "a gold jacket player," when selecting him second overall in the 2018 NFL Draft. That is when Barkley revealed that he has been speaking to Gettleman over the years, but has really picked up the number of conversations in the past year.Barkley said he hopes that he can make him proud.

Saquon Barkley hopes to make ex-Giants GM Dave Gettleman proud

"I've been super thankful to him," said Barkley. "We continue to talk and text, especially a little more this year than we have in the past. But, I always got love for him. He's the guy that, you know, gave me an opportunity and drafted me to New York. Unfortunately things didn't go the way that we would like but hopefully, one of my goals would be to to be able to make everyone proud and hopefully I'll make him proud right now."

Giants fans don't hold Gettleman in the highest regard based on his tenure as general manager from 2018 until 2022. Yes, he was part of the front office from1999 until 2012, when the team won two Super Bowl titles. But his return in 2018 as general manager could not have gone worse.

The main gripe that Giants fans have with Gettleman is not just the Daniel Jones pick in 2019. No, it was the inability to fix the offensive line, which he promised to fix upon his return. His first year saw him sign Nate Solder to be their left tackle, which backfired tremendously. With the lack of help on the offensive line, adding Barkley with their first-round pick was much criticized at the time, and still is.

Make no mistake about it, offensive line or not, Barkley was projected to get drafted in the Top 5 that year. He was a generational prospect coming out of Penn State, with some mock drafts at the time even having him going first overall to the Cleveland Browns. He was that good. We saw glimpses of Barkley's potential in his rookie year. But, injuries began to pile up, including a torn ACL. A turnstile of an offensive line didn't help matters.

The Giants never made it to the playoffs and had two different head coaches in a four year span. The most wins the team had under Gettleman was six in 2020. While he did get some draft picks right in Dexter Lawrence and Andrew Thomas, his free agency signings were disastrous. While there was the "you have to hand it to Gettleman" talk from national media when the team made the playoffs in 2022 with essentially his roster, Joe Schoen had no choice since the ex-general manager left the team in cap hell. The 2022 team overperformed that year, with Brian Daboll as head coach.

Who knows what could have happened if Gettleman had properly built up an offensive line early in Barkley's career. Maybe he would have put up 2,000 rushing yards in a season much earlier and not with the Eagles.

Regardless, Schoen now has to live with the fact that he let Barkley leave and play in the Super Bowl after just one year away from New York. While Schoen has had some success, like making the playoffs in his first year as general manager and the 2024 rookie draft class, his tenure has been far from perfect. Now, he enters a prove-it year in 2025 with team owner John Mara growing impatient.

If Barkey does help the Eagles beat the Chiefs on Sunday, he knows he would have made Gettleman proud for taking a chance on him in 2018. And if that does happen, there will be plenty of Giants fans with mixed feelings about what transpired. Again, it's not a fun viewing experience for that fanbase, as they hope that the team gets back to their glory days sooner rather than later.