I’m a Giants Fan That Can’t Root for Saquon Barkley
Call it sour grapes. Call it a grudge. Call it childish. It is what it is.
As a lifelong New York Giants fan who bought his jersey the day after he was drafted #2 overall in 2018, I simply cannot root for Saquon Barkley to win the Super Bowl. There is one simple reason I feel this way. He’s a PHILADELPHIA EAGLE. As Giants owner John Mara famously said during HBO’s “Hard Knocks” series, ‘I’d have a tough time sleeping if Saquon goes to Philadelphia’ – and this was the thought of every single Giants fan during the offseason.
Let’s get it straight. Saquon Barkley is an elite talent. I was PRAYING that he would be drafted by the Giants and the audible yell I released when his name was announced as being ours shook the walls of my home. I couldn’t get his blue #26 jersey fast enough. Seeing his talent at Penn State, I swore he would be the start of a turnaround for the Giants that would get us back to being a relevant franchise. Alas, quarterback woes, offensive line collapses and other intangibles that didn’t go in the Giants favor (including an injury to Barkley himself) led to more heartache for this fanbase.
When it was time to talk about a new contract for Barkley, things got kind of ugly. The Giants had already committed a ton of money to quarterback Daniel Jones and they felt paying Barkley might not be the best way to spend their money given they had so many needs at other positions. Barkley was offered a contract beyond the 2022 season – which he declined – and after the 2023 debacle, he was a free agent who inevitably signed with the Eagles. Stick a dagger in our hearts, why don’t you?
He is now one win away from his first Super Bowl with Philadelphia. I should be happy for him as a fan of his talent, but it’s such a catch-22. He’s on one of my most hated teams on the planet (the Dallas Cowboys being the other) and the cherry on top? He could very well win the MVP of the league. Maybe he didn’t see a winning culture with the Giants being built, leading to his departure. Totally valid reasoning. He went to a team that had a way better shot to win a championship than the Giants. If he were on literally any other team besides Dallas or Philadelphia, I’d be thrilled for him. It’s just impossible to even think of him raising the Lombardi trophy wearing Kelly Green. Rivalries are real, and I can be immature. So with that said, I kind of hope he fumbles on the 1-yard line with seconds left in the Super Bowl and the Eagles lose. Childish thinking? Yes, but whatever.
Lots of Giants fans are going to ‘have a hard time sleeping’ if Barkley sees championship glory in the backyard of one our most fierce rivals.