The New York Giants running back Saquon Barkley said that he’s ready for his second season after being removed from a ligament injury.
Barkley struggled to keep up with the Giants after he tore up his ACL in Week 2 of the 2020 season. He rushed 593 yards with two touchdowns, but still added 41 catches for 263 yards.
The Bronx native has been drawn criticism since the Giants made him the second overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft. Many considered it was too high of a pick to be used on a running back. The criticism only increased ever since he received an injury and doesn’t seem to fade now that Barkley has recovered.
As for Barkley himself, he made it clear that he didn’t really listen to the critics. In the “2nd Wind” podcast, the former Penn State Nittany Lion said that he was ready to go back into action.
“Last year was more like, ‘Dang, the game was taken away from me.’ I never had a season where I didn’t go and play football,” Barkley said.
“Now, it’s a kill mindset. Now it’s like, you know what? F—k everybody. I’m ready to go crazy.”
“Do I feel like I’m back? I feel like I’m better.”
We sat down with @saquon for the first episode of @2ndwindpodcast1 spoke about his 2nd wind after tearing his ACL, his motivation and his mindset for this upcoming season.
Tune in FRIDAY for the full episode pic.twitter.com/err13Y665F
— Great One (@Jwah03) August 23, 2022
Barkley also said that he always felt like people have always tried to exclude him. He remains determined to prove himself regardless.
“Do I feel like I’m back? I feel like I’m better, to be completely honest,” Barkley said.
“I’m older now, I’m 25. I’ve been through some stuff, ups and downs. Now I’m in a situation where, you know me, I always have the mindset of always being counted out. But now it’s actually here, it’s actually real. People are really counting me out. People are trying to write me off.”
Barkley said that he played for his own pleasure and just wanted to be great. Since he received many criticisms, he said that he now had extra motivation to “shut everyone up”.
Responding to running style criticism
Barkley has heard what the critics said about himself and said that he would let the haters keep hating him once he turned for the better in 2022.
Most notably, Barkley has heard of the criticisms about his running style and has said that he is “fed up” with it.
“That’s just part of my game. As a running back, understanding the scheme. Understanding what I have to do,” Barkley said.
“This is probably the last time I’m going to speak on this, I know people want to say, ‘dancing and this in the third, he don’t get north and south,’ but I’m not just going to run into any of my lineman back. That’s not how I play the game. That’s not how I’ve been playing since I was eight years old.”
Yahoo Sports’ Dan Benton wrote that Barkley compared them to armchair general managers, without actual NFL experience.
“We call them all pros with clickers in their hand,” Barkley said. “Running back is a tough position, but it’s easy to be there and watch football and watch on tv, or even watch on watch film and stop the clicker and say, ‘Oh, he should’ve made that cut.’ There’s a lot of things that go into making that cut.”
“There’s a lot of things like your shoulders being square. There’s a lot of things that have an impact on your vision.”