The New York Giants are heading into the 2022 NFL Draft with plenty of needs. They would love to add more draft capital so that they can take more bites of the apple, find young players to fill out the roster and hopefully flourish into high-level players. A trade involving running back Saquon Barkley could be in play and the Los Angeles Rams might be a team to watch.
Joe Schoen took over as the team’s general manager this season, inheriting a roster that was left as a mess, to put it nicely, by Dave Gettleman. Gettleman left the roster in worse shape than when he took over, making Schoen’s job very difficult in the early going.
Despite having a starting quarterback on a rookie contract in Daniel Jones, New York was left in cap hell. Schoen has done his best in cleaning things up, but it will take more than one offseason to get everything on track.
One of the ways that he has attempted to clear the $40 million he said he wanted to slash is moving on from veterans. He has restructured multiple contracts and released some players, clearing a ton of cap space along the way. Trades are also something we could see in the coming weeks with the draft rapidly approaching.
New York has some players that they could trade to save some more cap space and add more draft capital. One of those players is running back Saquon Barkley. Barkley was Gettleman’s first pick as general manager, taking him No. 2 overall in the 2018 NFL Draft in a short-sighted move as Gettleman thought the Giants were able to compete immediately.
That draft pick and how he handled things in the early going of his tenure are as big of a reason that the Giants are in the position that they are. Trading Barkley isn’t ideal when it comes to helping Jones on offense, but if the Los Angeles Rams come with an offer like the one proposed over at Bleacher Report, it would be hard for the Giants to say no.
In that hypothetical deal, the Giants are sending Barkley out west while getting back the No. 104 pick in the 2022 NFL Draft and a third-round pick in the 2023 NFL Draft. At first glance, that doesn’t seem like a lot, but given the injuries he has battled since his rookie season and the fact that he is on an expiring contract, this is solid value.
The Rams would be adding another explosive playmaker to an offense that already has near the top of the league potential. Saquon Barkley would combine with Cam Akers and Darrell Henderson to create one of the better running back trios in the NFL. Barkley would also benefit greatly from playing under an offensive head coach such as Sean McVay, who should be able to utilize his unique skill set in the passing game.
Matthew Stafford having that running back group to hand the ball to in addition to Cooper Kupp, Allen Robinson and Tyler Higbee to throw the ball to, would make the Rams one of the most dangerous offenses in the NFL in 2022.
