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When healthy, New York Giants running back Saquon Barkley is one of the best athletes in the entire NFL regardless of position. Whether he’s taking a hand-off or catching a pass out of the backfield, putting the ball in Barkley’s hands is usually a good idea.
Those hands were on display at Organized Team Activies (OTA) on Thursday. Barkley went head-to-head with Sterling Shepard in a short-range pass-catching drill and appeared to dominate the veteran wide receiver, illustrating his elite receiving skills for a running back.
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SNY Giants Videos caught the moment on camera and shared it on Twitter:
Out of the seven passes thrown, five were caught by Barkley, one was snared by Shepard and one fell to the ground incomplete.
Barkley caught the first two easily. At that point, Shepard, who’s wearing a red non-contact jersey, appeared to criticize Barkley’s technique and reestablish the ground rules of the drill. The duo rotated a little bit, and that’s when Shepard made his only catch against Barkley.
After a false start, the fourth pass fell incomplete. The drill ended with Barkley snagging each of the last three passes in front of Shepard. The last one was a one-handed stab that Barkley playfully flipped back to Shepard as he skipped away backwards, signaling victory over his teammate.
Barkley (6-0, 232 lbs.) does have a bit of a size advantage over Shepard (5-10, 196 lbs.). According to their NFL Combine measurements, Barkley (31 3/8″) has slightly longer arms than Shepard (30 3/8″) but Shepard (9 3/8″) has slightly larger hands than Barkley (9 1/2″).
Is this too much analysis for a fun little drill in early June? No, it’s actually not, because it sounds like Barkley’s role is trending in a new direction under first-year head coach Brian Daboll.
Barkley Trending Toward Larger Receiving Role
Under Daboll, the Giants may try to use Barkley as a pass-catcher more often. Jordan Raanan of ESPN noted on Friday that Barkley has been getting a “TON” of work in receiving roles at practice this spring.
“Most notable observation from OTA #9 was that Saquon Barkley was getting a TON of work as a receiver,” Raanan wrote on Twitter. “His involvement in the passing game appears on the rise.”
When the Giants drafted Barkley with the No. 2 overall pick in 2018, the expectation was that he would be heavily involved in the passing game. That was definitely true during his rookie season, but his work as a pass-catcher has dropped off since then. After averaging 5.7 receptions per game in 2018, he averaged just 4.0 receptions per game in 2019. Over the past two seasons combined (15 games played total), that average has sunk to 3.1 receptions per game.
Eight of Barkley’s 27 career touchdowns have come as a receiver, which is nearly 30 percent of his total scoring plays from scrimmage.
A Reminder of What Barkley Can Do as a Receiver
Remember this beautiful play against the Philadelphia Eagles during Barkley’s rookie season?
This is the type of damage Barkley can do when you can get him the ball in space. Daboll and the Giants need to resurrect screen plays like this to unleash the offense in 2022.
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