One day, if Joe Schoen executes a successful rebuild that brings the Giants back, perhaps John Mara will be able to look back on the day he lost Saquon Barkley to the hated Philadelphia Eagles and laugh.
There was no laughing inside 1925 Giants Drive on the day that Barkley decided to take the money — three years, $37.5M, $26M guaranteed — and run to daylight down the Turnpike to sing “Fly Eagles Fly.”
The Saquon Barkley Era ended at 2:42 p.m. Monday, when he tweeted a photo of a pair of Eagles side by side.
Once A Giant. . .
Not Always A Giant.
Not Only A Giant.
He wanted to be a Giant For Life more than they wanted him to be.
He never had a chance here.
He and the Giants were the Quad Couple.
It was the wrong time and the wrong place for him, then and now.
Fly, $aquon, Fly.
When it wasn’t his own body that betrayed him, it was the Giants who betrayed him, and long before the sides failed to reach a long-term deal.
They never fixed the offensive line. He played for three different head coaches. He never got to play with an elite quarterback. Once Odell Beckham Jr. was traded in November 2021, he never played with a No. 1 receiver to take the pressure off him. He was never used enough as a passing-game weapon. He is gone now and safety Xavier McKinney (Packers, 4 years, $68M) is gone now and Daniel Jones is going, going gone.
The devaluation of the running back sealed his fate.
It is a sad day for all the men and women and boys and girls who have littered the MetLife Stadium stands in their 26 jerseys. Barkley was often the only New York Giant worth watching.
Giants fans who were happy that Schoen didn’t trade him at the trade deadline undoubtedly wish now that Schoen had traded him at the trade deadline rather than watching him walk away for nothing … to the Eagle$$$, of all teams. Don’t begrudge Barkley: Mark Bavaro played six years as a Giant and his last two years as an Eagle and everyone forgave him.
As much as he wanted to stay as a forever Giant, and be like Eli Manning and Michael Strahan and Lawrence Taylor and Phil Simms, good for him that his Escape From New York gets him to a better football place with enough money to buy out Pat’s and Geno’s.
He leaves New York as Saquon. He arrives in Philly as $aquon.
“Thank you to everyone who has shown me love and support over the past 6 years … forever grateful!
“Excited for the next chapter,” Barkley tweeted.
The Eagles said to hell with The Curse of the NFL Running Back: They do not impact winning the way the franchise quarterback does.
Barkley has immense value to the Eagles, who watched D’Andre Swift sign with the Bears, as the missing piece to a championship-ready team. The Giants, through no fault of his own, have not been a championship-ready team in over a decade. Barkley can put a team like the Eagles — Jalen Hurts, A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith, a sturdy offensive line even without Jason Kelce, offensive coordinator Kellen Moore — over the top.
He could not carry a team like the Giants.
His low-cost replacement, ex-Bill Devin Singletary (3 years, $16.5M) won’t be able to.
Barkley took our breath away with a 39-yard gain the very first time he touched the ball in the preseason, and everyone around the Giants believed that he could be the running back outlier who could help a fading Eli ride off into the sunset with a third Super Bowl on his own way to Canton.
It was an illusion and a delusion.
There were occasions when it seemed as though Barkley was touched by the hand of God, just never enough of them as the second overall pick of the 2018 NFL Draft to drag the Giants out of the desert of despair except for one fleeting oasis that was that 2022 wild-card playoff win in Minnesota. It was his lone playoff win.
Barkley still has tread left on his 27-year-old tires following these six unfulfilled years, but time is running out for him to realize a legacy that will be remembered as legendary.
Barkley, who always drinks from the half-full glass, has to look at it this way:
Stay updated with The Post’s coverage on Saquon Barkley joining the Eagles during NFL free agency
- Saquon Barkley signing with Eagles for $38 million in NFL free agency stunner
- Tiki Barber takes dig at Saquon Barkley’s Giants legacy in war of words: ‘Do I need to answer that?’
- Saquon Barkley never had a real Giants chance
- Tiki Barber doesn’t hold back after Saquon signs with Eagles: ‘Dead to us’
He gets to go home — Coplay, Pa., is 66 miles from Philadelphia — to chase a Super Bowl and give himself a better chance to run his gold jacket race to Canton.
The fateful day in 2020 when he crumpled to the ground in Chicago Week 2 with that torn ACL essentially cost him two years of his prime.
As doggedly as he rehabbed from it, and from other less severe setbacks, only in 2022 did he come close to could replicating his Offensive Rookie of the Year season.
Barkley was something to see as a rookie, with those legendary quads, a 230-pound specimen with the breathtaking moves of a smaller man. We called him Saquad.
He worked tirelessly at his craft, wasn’t afraid to be a vocal leader as a rookie and never stopped being one as captain, whether the coach was Pat Shurmur or Joe Judge or Brian Daboll.
He was class every step of the way, everything Mara craves to be the face of the franchise. Walter Payton Man of the Year nominee two years running.
A chance to be a modern-day Frank Gifford. Barkley was the fourth Giant with 5,000 rushing yards and 2,000 receiving yards with 5,211 and 2,100, respectively, joining Tiki Barber, Alex Webster and Gifford.
Now? All we can say is thanks for the memories, 26. A shame there weren’t more of them, a shame there won’t be more of them as a New York Giant.
The gap between the Giants and Eagles has grown wider. On this day, the Giants are a lesser team and a lesser organization without him. SaGone, but not forgotten.
