Giants owner John Mara admitted he’d have a “tough time sleeping” if Saquon Barkley went to Philly before his eventual trade to the Eagles

Giants found the next best option to replace Saquon Barkley in running back Devin Singletary.

Giants owner John Mara admitted he’d have a “tough time sleeping” if Saquon Barkley went to Philly before his eventual trade to the Eagles

John Mara and Saquon Barkley (Via SI/Imago)

This offseason, the New York Giants lost their best player Saquon Barkley to their divisional rival, the Philadelphia Eagles. As much as the franchise wanted to avert losing the star running back, they did not expect him to join their biggest rival. 

In the words of Giants owner John Mara, it wouldn’t be easy for the team, especially him to see their former best player of the long time in the Eagles’ uniform. As Hard Knocks caught its hand on new footage of the Giants’ front office, where Mara admitted to General Manager Joe Schoen that he would lose sleep if he saw Barkley in Philly’s uniform. 

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I'll have a tough time sleeping if Saquon goes to Philadelphia, I'll tell you that. As I've told you, I've been around enough players, but he's the most popular player we have, by far.
Giants owner John Mara said

“We’re gonna be fine,” responded Schoen, assuring Mara as shown in the Hard Knock’s clip. 

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With Barkley joining the divisional rivals, the Giants found the next best option to replace him in veteran running back Devin Singletary from the free agency market. He is coming off a season recording 898 rushing yards and four touchdowns with the Houston Texans. 

As compared to the star running back Barkley, he posted 962 rushing yards and six touchdowns in 14 games, which certainly raised the standards for Singletary to match considering the fact, that the former logged such a record when the Giants’ offensive line was struggling on the field. 

John Mara and Giants prioritized defense over retaining star RB Saquon Barkley

There has been a boatload of speculations on why the Giants seem reluctant to pay their star player Barkley. Given that they failed to match Philly’s $37.75m offer with $26m guaranteed for Barkley. One prime reason for that is the big money they offered to Brian Burns in order to, strengthen their defense. 

The Giants signed the former Carolina Panthers’ edge rusher in a five-year deal worth $141m deal with a minimum of $87.5m guaranteed. As a result, their budget was exhausted as per General Manager Schoen. 

Saquon Barkley Giants Texans
Saquon Barkley (Via Imago)

Therefore, all eyes will majorly on the Giants’ defense to see if the team can improve their .353 record from last season, which nearly cost them 407 points, and also if it was worth losing the star offensive player. 

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