I think New York fell into the trap of groupthink. For 5-10 years, everyone has been devaluing running backs and saying they are replaceable. Even good ones. Even great ones. So, when the Giant's braintrust had to choose between Daniel Jones and Saquon Barkley, they chose the QB. You always choose the QB. After all, the QB is the only position that matters, right?
So, they let Barkley go knowing they would lose some production, but not enough relative to the cap space gained. After all, they had their franchise QB. Better to build for him. Running backs were cheap, expendable, practically a dime a dozen even after inflation.
Circling back to us, this is why many of us believe that getting the Franchise QB is just the start. Daniels may be a force multiplier, but he still needs support. He needs a more reliable running game, he needs better protection, he needs a defense who can get the ball back into his hands. I think he also needs at least one more home run threat. Frankly, I'd love that to be at running back. I want our Derrick Henry or Saquon Barkley to go along with our amazing QB, but if that homerun hitter is a wide receiver that's okay, too. If our homerun hitter is a DE who changes games, that's fine too (though I'd still want one more offensive piece and, of course, line help.)