Tiki Barber wants the Giants to blow it all it up.
The former Giants running back, on his WFAN radio program “Tiki & Tierney,” advocated a full rebuild that includes jettisoning running back Saquon Barkley and quarterback Daniel Jones.
“The reason I think they should try to trade Saquon is because if you’re going to zero to get your cap in order, just do it,” Barber said. “Don’t try to mitigate the pain by keeping a popular player here. If you’re resetting, it’s a new regime, new philosophy…go all in. if you’re doing this and it’s gonna be painful, you’ve got to just go all in.
“If [Jones is] not gonna be a top-10 quarterback, then why are you worried about figuring him out and trying to get a little bit above average quarterback? He’s never gonna be a top 10, maybe he’s 15. Do you trust him to be like Eli [Manning] was? You trusted Eli because even if he was average, because if you got in a critical situation, he was showing up. You could count on that from Eli. Can you count on that from Daniel Jones?”
Tiki Barber says the Giants should move on from Daniel Jones and Saquon Barkley. Getty ImagesBarber has seen enough from Jones and would welcome a painful rebuild in new coach Brian Daboll’s first season.
“I don’t want to get caught with the same season of ‘Daniel Jones looks pretty good … he just needs something to take him over the top,’” Barber said. “Then you’re stuck without an answer … I think this is a reset season for the Giants…if you’re gonna strip it down, take the pain right now.”
There is the question of what the Giants could do to improve from Jones. Would it be worth the price to potentially upgrade to Jimmy Garoppolo or Baker Mayfield? How big of upgrades would they even be, and do they fit the criteria of being long-term, top-10 quarterbacks?
Saquon Barkley averaged 3.7 yards per carry for the Giants last season. Getty Images
Daniel Jones is entering his fourth season as Giants QB. Getty ImagesBarber’s co-host, Brandon Tierney, is OK with getting rid of Jones but wants to see Barkley in Daboll’s offense.
“I think he should absolutely be on the Giants,” Tierney said of Barkley. “If they decide that Daniel Jones was gone…then I can say ‘OK, it’s a complete resetting, and there’s more justification for seeing if you can get a fourth-round pick for Saquon, get rid of the money.’ If you’re gonna hold onto Daniel Jones…I want to see what Daboll’s offense can look like with an electric runner, which the Bills never really had…from that point of view, I’d like to get some answers there. How important is an electric running back to Daboll?”
