Daboll Respects Eagles' Saquon Barkley: 'Wish Him All the Best Except' vs. Giants

Saquon Barkley left the New York Giants this offseason, signing with the division rival Philadelphia Eagles on a three-year, $37.7 million deal.

But for head coach Brian Daboll, there are no hard feelings, at least until the two teams are playing head-to-head.

"This is what it is every year in the NFL. You meet great people, whether it's coaches, players, staff members, and unfortunately everybody doesn't stick together the entire time, it's not what it was 30, 40 years ago," he told Tom Pelissero of NFL Network. "I've got a tremendous amount of respect for Saquon and all the players that went on to other places.

"Wish him all the best except when he is playing the Giants," he added.

The Giants have made some big changes this offseason. Barkley is out. So is star safety Xavier McKinney. But the team traded a 2024 second-round pick, a 2025 fifth-rounder and an exchange of fifth-round picks to acquire star edge-rusher Brian Burns before signing him to a five-year, $141 million extension.

"Give a lot of credit to (general manager) Joe (Schoen) and his staff for getting that done," Daboll told Pelissero. "[Burns is] a good player, a good acquisition, a good trade for us, happy to have him. He's been a productive guy at Carolina and doing all the research on the player, and more importantly the person, he's the right kind of guy and we're excited to have him."

Alongside Dexter Lawrence and Kayvon Thibodeaux, Burns should give the Giants one of the more fearsome front sevens in the NFC.

As for other additions, the team also signed running back Devin Singletary and quarterback Drew Lock, though Daboll confirmed that the team is still riding with Daniel Jones as the starter.

"We're excited to have Drew, and he knows what his role is going to be," he said. "He's going to get a lot of reps this spring, he needs to learn our system, but again excited to get Daniel back, when he gets back he'll be the guy."

Losing Barkley, however, is going to hurt. He was the centerpiece of New York's offense when healthy, rushing for over 1,000 yards three times with the Giants, at least 900 yards four times and providing a solid option as both a receiver and blocker out of the backfield.

He's a true three-down back in an era that has seen teams utilize committee approaches to the position with more regularity and was a nice safety valve for Jones, who has been extremely inconsistent during his career.

Singletary will lead the backfield after rushing for 898 yards and four touchdowns with the Houston Texans in 2023. He's a solid option but a clear downgrade from Barkley, and it remains to be seen if the Giants will add additional weapons for Jones at the NFL draft, or seek his replacement altogether.