When the New York Giants drafted running back Saquon

Barkley second overall in the 2018 NFL draft Color Rush Patrick Omameh Jersey , visions of offensive fireworks danced through fans’ heads. With hyper-athletic playmakers at every offensive skill position, how could the offense NOT improve? Unfortunately, the Giants’ offense has yet to realize its potential through the first quarter of the season. The fault for the offensive slog isn’t at the feet of Barkley, however. He has racked up at least 100 all-purpose yards in each game so far, and scored a touchdown in three of them. He is doing his part on the field, and he also seems to be blossoming rapidly off the field as well. Despite the way the team has started the season, Barkley sounds like the mature “Face Of The Franchise” he was drafted to be. He insists that the way forward for the team is to be optimistic, but also realistic about the hole they have dug for themselves. “Obviously you’re 1-3, the season is obviously not over,” he said. “It’s a long season but you can’t say it’s a long season forever because you get to a point where you get redundant and you keep saying that, then there’s no chance for you to make the playoffs. Everything that we still want, all of our goals are still in reach. Coach said something perfect today, he said the only thing that we’re not capable of doing this season is an undefeated season, and that only happened one time. I don’t know if everybody expects to win every single game, but most likely not going to win every single game. You’ve just got to continue to work, not get down like I said, have positive energy, come into the building and continue to work and like you said examine yourself, watch film, learn what you can do to help the team, learn what you can do better to help yourself better in certain situations and get ready for the next week.”On the offensive strugglesDespite having players like Barkley, Odell Beckham Jr., Sterling Shepard, and Evan Engram on their offense, the Giants have struggled mightily on offense. They have struggled with execution and mental mistakes, they have struggled with consistency, and they have struggled to find an identity.“We’ve got to get back to the basics. We’ve got to kind of do what we did the first drive against other teams, continue to have that momentum, that first drive epitomizes what we’re capable of doing on the football field and we have to have that mindset,” Barkley said. They showed in their first game that that they have the talent to match up and be a problem for any defense in the NFL. But what the Giants need to do is find an identity on offense.“Yeah, it is that simple,” Barkley added. “We’ve got to get back to playing Giants football. I don’t think really any team so far that we’ve played, obviously at the end of the game they had the win and they had more points than we had, but there’s a lot of things we did ourselves to put us in that situation. If we can fix ourselves and just focus on ourselves, I think the rest of the season will take care of itself.”‘Giants Football’, as Barkley referred to it Color Rush Nate Solder Jersey , is “just being consistent, running the ball, making efficient plays, maximizing on the opportunities when we get the opportunities, stay away from mistake-free football – obviously you’re going to make mistakes, but make less mistakes than the other team, not turn the ball over.”On his rookie seasonBarkley himself has had a good start to his NFL career. So far he has proven his ability as a runner and receiver, shown that he can create on his own in both facets of the game, and be the playmaker the Giants drafted him to be. But that doesn’t mean that he is satisfied.Barkley said, “Even when you win, win or lose, I’m always going to be my biggest critic because I have the passion, I want to be great, I want to be a great player in this league and I have to hold myself to that standard. When we lose, you’ve got to look back on yourself.”That passion, the high standards to which he holds himself and the work ethic with which he drives himself to meet those standards, bordered on legendary in college. Despite having the kind of start to his rookie season of which any player would be proud, Barkley wants, needs, to be better.“I’ve got to be better,” he said. “I think I’ve been doing a pretty good job of breaking tackles so far, I’ve got to find a way to break more tackles. I was brought here to be an efficient player and when the opportunity comes, create big plays, and I’ve got to do a better job there. A lot of the reason we haven’t been successful is we haven’t been able to run the ball, we haven’t run the ball as well as we are capable of. That’s where my job kicks in and that’s where myself and the O line, we’re kind of a whole when it comes to that, where we’ve got to take that as a personal challenge and continue to work and get better. When the next game comes, when the opportunity comes, capitalize on it.” When it comes to building a roster in the NFL, every team in the NFL gets roughly the same resources. With every team limited to a 53-man roster, a hard salary cap, and roughly equivalent picks in the draft (when weighted against the team’s ability), the NFL has parity built into every step of the team building process. The biggest difference between a well-built team and a bad team is how the front office uses those resources, and how well their coaching staff puts the players in position to succeed. Whether it is in free agency or the draft, the name of the team-building game is getting value. The teams that use their resources the most wisely tend to have the greatest advantage. The Los Angeles Rams and Philadelphia Eagles have embraced emerging analytics to make their processes, both team-building and game management Youth Evan Engram Jersey , much more efficient. Meanwhile the New England Patriots have built a dynasty out of Bill Belichick’s rare philosophy of extreme honesty and flexibility, both in team construction and game-planning. But for all that, there is one avenue that teams are only just beginning to truly explore, and that are trades. Trading resources — be it players, draft picks or prospects, or money — is a common practice in the NBA or Major League Baseball. The NFL, however, is much more old-fashioned and conservative, but as teams have begun using the careful study of a massive amount of data points (aka: analytics) to help inform their decisions and not just setting limits and thresholds. One of the new frontiers in that study of data is using it to find value inefficiencies in trades, and exploiting them. With the NFL trade deadline (Oct. 30th, at 4 p.m.) fast approaching, sources around the league are speculating an unusually active market. Those leagues sources are expecting the Arizona Cardinals and Oakland Raiders to be particularly active in dealing players.On the Scouts Honor podcast, long-time NFL scout Dave-te’ Thomas said on the Scouts Honor podcast that Jon Gruden is looking to blow up the Oakland Raiders roster. Thomas said, “He wants to put up Derek Carr, he wants to put up Amari Cooper, he wants to put up Karl Joseph. Who else is left over there, anyway?” The Giants likely wouldn’t have an interest in Carr or Cooper, and Thomas suggested that the Jacksonville Jaguars could be trading partners for Carr and Cooper. He added that they have almost no choice but to release Blake Bortles at the end of the season. He also threw out that a second round pick could be a potential price for Carr.Then there are the Arizona Cardinals, who are also sitting at 1-5, could also be putting some of their best players on the trading block as they retool for Steve Wilks’ vision of the team.“I have the feeling,” Thomas said on the podcast, “that if someone comes along and makes an offer on David Johnson, he’s out the door. Patrick Peterson, he’s another guy that they’re talking about. The two linebackers, Deone Bucannon and Haason Reddick, they’re both out on the market right now. They just realize in Arizona that they don’t have a choice, they have to blow up the team and start again.” Thomas mentioned that in light of the culture clashes going on in the Cardinals’ locker room, the team likely regrets letting new Giants’ defensive coordinator James Bettcher leave. Peterson is obviously the biggest name put out as a potential trade piece. The All-Pro cornerback was once one of the most highly paid defenders in the NFL, but his salary over the next two seasons, $11 million in 2019 and $12 million in 2020, are a bargain for the caliber of player he is. Where the Giants’ come inBut what about the other players? What about the youngsters who could be on a team for a long time and are still on a relatively low-cost contract. Each of them was a former first round draft pick, have proven themselves to be capable players at the NFL level, and would likely cost much less than their original draft slots while teams look to recoup something for a player they will otherwise cut.If those trades materialize, those are the opportunities to exploit inefficiencies and add value to the roster.Safety Karl Joseph is an intriguing name for the Giants. Joseph was drafted in the first round (14th overall) of the 2016 draft, and is a dynamic downhill playmaker of a safety. He has the ability to play in man or zone coverage, and even matched up with Sterling Shepard in man coverage in the slot in college. He would be an intriguing option next to Landon Collins in James Bettcher’s defense. Bucannon and Reddick are also intriguing names for the Giants. Bettcher found a niche role for Bucannon in his defense as the “moneybacker” Youth Will Hernandez Jersey , using the former safety’s skill set as the weak inside linebacker. Meanwhile, Reddick was drafted specifically for Bettcher’s defense. What truly makes players like Bucannon, Joseph, or Reddick truly intriguing for the Giants is the value they represent. With the teams looking to move in other directions, they don’t present much value for their current teams. But with their age, between 24 and 26 years old, they each could be defensive stalwarts for the next five years. They are also proven NFL players who would likely be both better and more reliably productive than the players the team would select in the draft.There is also another factor to consider: The quarterback position.With the Giants currently holding the number one overall pick in the 2019 NFL draft, fans and analysts are focusing on the quarterbacks currently projected to go at the top of the draft. However, Thomas isn’t particularly high on the names being thrown around right now. “If you look at the quarterbacks that are out there right now,” Thomas said, “everybody is talking about the kid from Missouri [Drew Lock], he’s another Blaine Gabbert. Everybody’s talking about Justin Herbert, and it’s insane. Take a look at this guy’s track record outside of this year, he’s never played a full season, there’s always an injury coming up. Are you going to invest that money that you’re never going to see out on the football field? Honestly, I think the best option, if anybody is going to go for a quarterback right now, head on down to Duke. There’s a Blue Devil there that I think is really jumping up the board and that’s Daniel Jones.”If those quarterbacks truly don’t live up to the hype, could the Giants find value elsewhere? The coaches are very high on rookie quarterback Kyle Lauletta, who’s poise, mobility, accuracy, and quick release fit well with Pat Shurmur’s scheme. In the podcast, Thomas mentioned that, though they deny it, the Giants had a draft-day deal in place for Minnesota Vikings’ back-up quarterback Kyle Sloter, but they didn’t pull the trigger. Sloter, 24, is a good-sized and athletic QB who is familiar with Shurmur and his system after last year in Minnesota. Shurmur seems to like Sloter, as the Vikings pursued him despite already having four QBs on the roster, after he was surprisingly cut by the Denver Broncos. A viable starting quarterback on a rookie contract is one of the greatest values a team can find. One on a mid to late-round rookie deal is a rare value indeed. So, should the Giants take advantage of other poor teams blowing up their rosters for a traditional NFL-style rebuild and trade for young players who could help speed up the Giants’ own rebuild?