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The New York Giants had big plans for Saquon Barkley as a receiver last season, plans that didn’t truly come to fruition. That could be about to change based on how the Giants have been experimenting during training camp with a role for Barkley they had previously “scrapped.”
“Barkley has seen time in the slot in two running back packages with Matt Breida in the backfield,” according to Dan Duggan of The Athletic. In 2022, Barkley tied for the team lead with 57 receptions, but many of those catches were screens or dump-offs in the backfield. He rarely got the chance to move across formations and challenge coverage deep.
“The Giants toyed with that deployment last spring, but mostly scrapped it during the season,” Duggan wrote in a story published July 31. “Barkley lined up in the slot on 4% percent of his snaps last season, which is 1% lower than in 2021.”
Moving Barkley into the slot, along with flexing him out into space, can tap into legitimate receiver-like skills rarely seen his catch-heavy rookie season in 2018.
Giants Can Revive Saquon Barkley’s Forgotten Skills
That year, Barkley was named NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year after tallying 91 catches. Yet, he’s never finished within 39 catches of that same number since, despite the Giants hinting at a return to 2018 strategies last offseason.
Then-new head coach Brian Daboll and offensive coordinator Mike Kafka gave Barkley “a TON of work as a receiver” during OTAs, per ESPN’s Jordan Raanan. Meanwhile, Ralph Vacchiano, writing for SNY.tv, noticed something similar in August 2022, when Barkley was lined up as a “slot receiver, then he’ll split out wide or maybe go in motion from wherever he starts” at practice.
Those experiments were rarely trotted out once the real action began, but Daboll and Kafka could revive the formula for real this time. Barkley has been a threat from the slot since his prolific collegiate days at Penn State, with Pro Football Focus’ Sam Monson highlighting his notable vertical inside release.
Putting a similar design into the Giants’ playbook would add some juice to a limited passing game that yielded an NFL-low 28 completions of 20-plus yards last season. It’s not as if Daboll and Kafka don’t already know how effective Barkley can be in space.
Giants Already Have Blueprint for Saquon Barkley Slot Role
No. 26 made a big impact whenever Daboll and Kafka moved him out of the backfield. Like when Barkley turned this catch from the slot into a 41-yard gain against the Green Bay Packers in Week 5.
Moving Barkley around more often can only lead to more big plays. It’s why flexing him into the slot isn’t the only viable option for the Giants.
Daboll and Kafka should also split Barkley out as a traditional wide receiver. It worked brilliantly when then-offensive coordinator Jason Garrett did it for this play against the New Orleans Saints from 2021, highlighted by Alex Wilson of Empire Sports Media.
The Giants haven’t been afraid to get creative with personnel packages at this year’s training camp. It’s helped to have more versatile matchup problems like Pro Bowl tight end Darren Waller among the skill positions.
That same expanding thinking could extend to adding more daring alignments and concepts to Barkley’s role in the passing game.
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