–It’s extremely rare that a rookie player not playing quarterback steps into an NFL locker room and becomes a trusted leader among his teammates right away.
Yet that’s been the position that Giants running back Saquon Barkley, the No. 2 overall pick in this year’s draft, has created for himself thanks to his maturity and his humble nature.
“Yeah. I felt that way since I was drafted here,” he said when asked about being a team leader. “That’s something I wanted to do as a goal of mine, but I know you can’t just take on that role from Day 1.”
In trying to earn that role and the respect that comes with it, Barkley has, at times, joked about being a pain to some of his teammates such as quarterback Eli Manning and running back Jonathan Stewart, two veterans whose brains Barkley picks with regularity.
But in taking a little bit here and there from those players as well as from receivers Odell Beckham Jr. and Sterling Shepard and the rest of the locker room, Barkley is starting to find a comfort level that matches his personality yet still allows him to lead.
His biggest takeaway?
“It’s just the way you carry yourself, the way you work,” he said of the common denominator he’s picked up from all those teammates.
“Come to work with your head down, try to do anything you can to help the team. That stuff goes a long way. Obviously, your play on the field goes a long way too but try to be one of the first people in here, working your butt off in the weight room, asking questions, try to prepare yourself like a pro, like a vet. Stuff like that is what sits well with your team and that’s how I try to continue to grow into that role.”
Head coach Pat Shurmur, who said he believes that young players can be just as effective in the leadership department as the more experienced veterans, said he most recently spent some time with Barkley during the team’s plane ride home from Charlotte to continue nurturing the leadership in the young man.
“Coach Shurmur sat down on the plane with me and said some great things that I needed to hear,” Barkley confirmed, declining to reveal what was said.
Whatever was said though, Shurmur has liked how Barkley has developed as a leader.
“He’s doing everything that you would want to see as a coach,” Shurmur said. “He displays humility, he says the right thing but when he says it — and you all write about it and report on it — don’t you sense a genuine nature to what he says?
“You’ve got a genuine, competitive guy that can do really great things on the football field, and so those guys can lead naturally by just being themselves. If Saquon comes in every day and every day becomes the best version of Saquon he can become, and he sticks to those principles and that integrity, then of course, he’ll be a terrific leader, and he already has established himself that way.”
For as far as Barkley has come, he believes he can still mature even more as a leader.
“You got to grow into that role and earn the respect of your teammates and that’s something I’m going to continue to try to do every single day,” he said.
–The Giants have seen enough from tackle Ereck Flowers.
New York waived their 2015 first-round pick Tuesday after a little more than four disappointing seasons and after failing to find a trade partner.
“I think it’s just kind of run its course,” Shurmur said of Flowers, who after struggling at left tackle for three years didn’t get any better on the right side before being benched two games into the 2018 season.
“We appreciate Ereck’s efforts, and we just wish him the best. Sometimes a change of scenery is good for a person, and we’re just hopeful he can go out and continue to have a good career.”
Flowers, drafted ninth overall in 2015, has not only failed to pan out for the team, he also was believed to have irked the new management regime earlier this year when he opted to stay away from his teammates for the start of the offseason conditioning program rather than begin building camaraderie with his teammates and coaches.
In April, there was a report from ESPN that the Giants tried to trade Flowers, who was reportedly unhappy over losing his starting job to free agent Nate Solder, during the draft, but they had no takers.
In the interim, Flowers, who hired agent Drew Rosenhaus shortly before he reported to the team’s offseason program in May, agreed to make the transition from left tackle to right tackle.
The transition proved to be unsuccessful. Before being benched in Week 3 for Chad Wheeler, Flowers had allowed 11 pass-rush pressures per Pro Football Focus, two less than Wheeler who has played in three games to Flowers’ two.
The Giants also signed Brian Mihalik, a tackle, to their practice squad last month. He was brought up from the practice squad where he and veteran Spencer Pulley will serve as the backup tackles.
With Flowers removed from the roster, safety Landon Collins is the last man standing from the 2015 draft class.
Flowers was in the final year of his rookie contract, scheduled to count for a fully guaranteed $4,579,219 against this year’s cap between his base salary and the prorated part of his signing bonus.
With his release, that full amount will hit the Giants salary cap as dead money.
BY THE NUMBERS: 0 – Number of NFC East teams who, so far this season, have outscored all their opponents. The Eagles have been outscored by one point, Washington by four, Dallas by 13 and the Giants by 24.
