We’ve heard Kayvon Thibodeaux say he thinks the Giants should’ve paid Saquon Barkley before Daniel Jones, even as Boomer and others consistently say running back prices just aren’t what they should be and second contracts rarely work out.
Well, Connor Hughes, who covers the Jets and Giants for SNY, joined BT & Sal in studio on Friday, and revealed something interesting about Barkley’s tenure in New York: it could’ve not happened?
“This is the whole problem with taking a running back No. 2 overall: they get him and set him up for disaster. Barkley's great, and he means a lot to the Giants, but obviously his worth at that position is questioned,” Sal Licata said, before Hughes told a ‘crazy story’ about that 2018 Draft.
“I remember talking to Mike Maccagnan about this, because you remember the Jets were drafting third,” Hughes said. “I'm like, dude, weren't you nervous like that the Browns and Giants were gonna go quarterback-quarterback and suddenly you're landing the number three, which would have been Josh Rosen, because after drafting Christian Hackenberg, they weren't gonna go with a project like Josh Allen again – and he goes, ‘no, because we had our sources that said the Giants were so locked in on Barkley at number two.”
Hughes had doubts, slight hesitation about how true the story was true, and, well, it continues.
“He goes, ‘I wasn't worried until the morning of the draft happened, and we got word that it wasn't Sam (Darnold) going one, that Baker (Mayfield) was going one,’” Hughes recalled. “They thought they were getting Baker at three. They had Sam as their number one quarterback, but thought they were getting Baker at three – and he told me that the only time he got worries was that morning, because he knew the only person that loved Sam more than him was John Elway with the Broncos, and he was petrified that John was going to call the Giants and offer the house for No. 2 in order to get Sam Darnold.”
Of course, that did not happen, as the Giants took Barkley, the Jets got Darnold, and Denver didn’t even go QB, taking Bradley Chubb at five – and he found out from Maccagnan that indeed, the fear was justified.
“He told me he saw John and said to him, ‘I was surprised you didn't do that, I really thought you were trying to jump us,’ and they did – but Dave (Gettelman) wouldn’t answer the phone,” Hughes said. “Dave was so locked in on No. 2 that he wouldn't answer the phone. So, when Dave said in his press conference they didn't need to even take calls, they ran it up to get Barkley – he was not lying.”