Getty The New York Giants can replace Saquon Barkley with a Dallas Cowboys' Pro Bowler.
Saquon Barkley still hasn’t signed up for the long haul, but the New York Giants could find a cheaper alternative to their star running back who doesn’t want to play on the franchise tag, by signing a former favorite of NFC East rivals the Dallas Cowboys.
Plucking Ezekiel Elliott off the market in free agency is one way to solve the problem, according to ESPN’s Dan Graziano. Elliott is a name that stands out among a list of potential Barkley replacements, with Graziano also mentioning Dalvin Cook, Kareem Hunt and Leonard Fournette as possibilities.
Acquiring a veteran like 27-year-old Elliott would be cheaper than overpaying Barkley. It would also be a hassle-free alternative to dealing with any holdout if a deal isn’t signed to nullify the tag before the deadline on Monday, July 17.
For all the benefits, the tradeoff from replacing Barkley with Elliott is obvious. The latter isn’t anywhere close to as dynamic, nor as versatile, as the player who powered the Giants’ surprising playoff push last season.
Running Back Market Gives Giants Options
Graziano dubbed scrapping the tag and signing a replacement as the Giants’ “nuclear option” for ending the brewing standoff with Barkley:
“It would be a power move by the teams at this stage of the offseason, when money and cap space have dried up and being free agents probably wouldn’t be as lucrative for Jacobs and Barkley as it might have been in March. And with guys such as Cook, Ezekiel Elliott, Kareem Hunt and Leonard Fournette still kicking around in free agency, the Raiders or Giants could probably solve their running back problems with still-productive big-name guys whose contract demands aren’t as high as those of Jacobs and Barkley.”
Even though Graziano admits this option “is farfetched,” the Giants know have they alternatives thanks to the market. It’s not often so many 1,000-yard rushers are still available this late in the offseason process.
Elliott has only topped the 1,000-yard plateau once in the last three seasons, but he’s still hugely productive in the red zone. That’s something the Giants found out to their cost in 2022 when Elliott scored three touchdowns across two games between Big Blue and the Cowboys.
One of those scores helped Elliott set a Cowboys record against the Giants, per ESPN Stats & Info.
Ezekiel Elliott has scored a rushing touchdown in each of his last 5 games against the Giants.
That’s the 3rd-longest streak against the Giants all-time, and passes Emmitt Smith in 2000-02 for the longest by a Cowboys player.
While Elliott has continued to boss the Giants, he hasn’t fared as well against other opponents. A career-low 3.8 yards per carry led to Elliott being upstaged by fellow Dallas runner Tony Pollard.
While Pollard was a breakout star, Elliott showed signs of wear and tear best summed up by him gaining a mere 1.5 yards after contact per rush, according to Pro Football Reference. The same source shows Elliott’s numbers in this area have declined every season since 2019.
Elliott is too easy to tackle now, and the physical dominance he displayed during an All-Pro rookie year in 2016, per StatMuse, now seems like a lifetime ago.
Ezekiel Elliott was a beast as a rookie:
— 322 CAR
— 1,631 YDS
— 16 TD
Led the league in carries and yards.
The decline in Elliott’s production contrasts with what Barkley achieved last season.
Giants Still Need Saquon Barkley
There are high-profile backs still looking for new teams, but the Giants won’t do better than finding a way to bring Barkley back on a long-term basis. He hasn’t accepted the tag, but the Giants need general manager Joe Schoen to reach a compromise for a player who accounts for most of the offense.
Barkley’s heavy workload yielded 295 carries, 1,312 rushing yards and a tie for the team lead with 57 receptions. Simply put, the Giants don’t move the ball anywhere near as effectively without No. 26 in the lineup.
The issue is what a compromise might look like financially. An idea is given by Joel Corry of CBS Sports, who thinks “Barkley could reasonably expect around $27 million to be fully guaranteed in a four-year deal despite the depressed state of the running back market.”
Making room for that contract will require Schoen getting creative, but so far the Giants haven’t been restructuring other deals in readiness for a bigger move. There’s still time, but the longer uncertainty around Barkley goes on, the more likely the Giants will be forced to consider alternatives.