The New York Giants are hoping they can get star running back Saquon Barkley, who is currently embroiled in a contract spat with the team, back sooner rather than later.
That’s because Barkley is back to being one of the NFL’s top ‘big play’ producers and has been named one of the game’s top 10 ‘most explosive’ playmakers by NFL Network.
Barkley came in seventh overall in Next Gen Stats’ rankings with an ‘explosive score’ of 85. Explosive score, “takes into account each player’s top speed, average speed, number of big plays and more to produce a composite score on a scale of 0-100.”
Last season was an incredible comeback campaign for Barkley, who eased concerns that the injury bug would prevent him from making his way back onto lists like this one. Barkley shook off that pest with emphasis in 2022, racking up 1,312 rushing yards and 10 touchdowns on 295 carries, posting the third-best per-carry average (4.4) of his career and his best mark since 2019.
Finishing with the second-most gains of 10-plus yards over expected (17) didn’t hurt Barkley’s case for this list, nor did his six runs of 20-plus mph. Despite a lengthy lower-body injury history, Barkley consistently proved he had rediscovered the explosive abilities that led to his selection as the No. 2 overall pick of the 2018 draft.
No. 1 on the list was Chicago Bears quarterback Justin Fields (98) followed by Seattle Seahawks running back Kenneth Walker III and Jacksonville Jaguars running back Travis Etienne, both with a score of 90.
The rest of the list consists of Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson (88), Dallas Cowboys running back Tony Pollard (87), Cleveland Browns running back Nick Chubb (86), Barkley, Tennessee Titans running back Derrick Henry (85), Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen (84) and Minnesota Vikings running back Dalvin Cook (83).
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