How the Giants can use Saquon Barkley’s outstanding versatility

The Giants took Penn State running back Saquon Barkley with the second overall pick in the NFL Draft on Thursday. Here’s a detailed scouting report on what New York is getting:

There were times when Saquon Barkley looked like he might be the best player in college football. He torched Iowa at Kinnick in a dramatic victory with 305 offensive yards, then blasted Michigan with 161 yards on 18 touches along with three touchdowns.

Then Ohio State and Michigan State shut him down in consecutive Penn State losses, and that was it for the Heisman train.

But Barkley’s results at the NFL Combine really revved up his profile, and one of the topics du jour became whether it’s a good idea to take a running back with a No. 1 pick — Barkley ended up as the No. 2 pick for the Giants. He showed up at 6’0, 233 pounds, definitely on the heavy side for a RB, and then ran a 4.4 40-yard dash with a 4.24 shuttle and 41-inch vertical leap. Combining his size and speed numbers gave him a remarkably high “speed score.” Put simply, guys who can run really fast at higher weights are hard to tackle.

The traditional evidence of Barkley being hard to tackle can be found in 2017, when he racked up highlights while running 217 times for 5.9 yards per carry and 18 TDs, all without a fumble.

But perhaps his most compelling production was in the passing game, with 54 catches for 611 yards and three scores at nine yards per target.

While Penn State ran a spread-option offense under Joe Moorhead, they did so from a hybrid 11 personnel set (one RB, one TE, three WRs) that mirrors the NFL’s direction.

A No. 1 pick is a lot to spend on an RB, but there’s some evidence Barkley might be a player worth featuring all over an NFL offense ... and maybe special teams, too.

The Penn State run game is somewhat unique. It had a devastating collection of plays, such as this dart-read scheme, that were very difficult for opponents:

Traditional 4-3 teams like Iowa prefer to have unblocked DEs on option plays step inside to spill runs to the perimeter. However, a play like this reverses the normal rules and has the RB run a sweep while the QB serves as the inside runner. It only took a couple of these runs for Iowa to determine that allowing Barkley a running start at the edge was not going to be ideal.

The Lions had a few schemes to get him going inside, with fun spread-option wrinkles. Here was a zone iso play they liked:

By having WRs run the glance route and bubble screen, Penn State could hold DBs and prevent them from coming up to help stop the run. Iowa had a really good front seven that didn’t always need help, but Barkley has a knack for reading LBs and finding cutback lanes. On this play, he finds room behind the double-team block when the LBs both flow toward the gap the H-back is blocking through.

Another fun example:

Penn State bumps McSorley and Barkley over at the last minute and runs a standard power read, but with McSorley as the RB attacking the edge and QB Barkley as the downhill runner. Michigan is attacking the edge to force the downhill McSorley run, but then it’s Barkley, and he finds the cutback lane for six points.

Diagnosing the coverage and the blitz matters more at the NFL level than in college. For starters, NFL offenses include much greater emphasis on the passing game. Then there’s the fact college defenses are considerably simpler, with many teams built around sitting in their base defenses and relying on fundamentals.

Penn State nevertheless used Barkley’s hybrid threat to clear up the picture for McSorley. It was common for Barkley to flex out wide before motioning into the backfield, with McSorley reading how the defense adjusted to the motion. That could give some clues on whether running plays were likely to land:

Michigan was playing a lot of man coverage, to keep both LBs in the box to stop the run game and focus on Barkley. But by motioning him around and mixing up assignments with option tactics, Penn State confused the Michigan backers. What’s more, because all of the DBs save for the deep safety were locked up in man coverage, Michigan couldn’t offer any help to their LBs.

And Barkley was also deadly out of the backfield on play-action or check down routes:

Penn State used Barkley in a lot of different roles. He was an outside constraint in the option run game, a feature back inside, a third-down back helping in protection and catching balls out of the backfield, a special teams star, and a hybrid back flexing wide. Combining all of those skills with elite speed made him a pretty intriguing option. The Giants bet on a RB with the No. 2 pick, but Barkley wis one of the better bets of the last few years.