Insider: Do the Colts still have a shot at Saquon Barkley?

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. – Mention the month of April and Saquon Barkley grows nervous. The draft? No, it’s not the draft that’s got him worried. He’s the best running back prospect in this class by a mile, probably the best prospect period, and he’s coming off a mic-drop of a combine performance last month in Indianapolis.

There weren't many questions after that. The kid can do it all. He proved it.

First overall, fifth overall, 35th overall, doesn’t matter. Get him on a team and give him the ball.

What has Barkley anxious (not to mention excited) is his very pregnant girlfriend, who’s due with the couple’s first child around the same time the Penn State All-American will hear his name called in the draft. How’s that for timing? The 21-year-old Barkley will become an NFL running back and a new dad in the same month, maybe the same week, maybe the same day, maybe the same hour ...

If the other call – the one from his girlfriend, not from an NFL team – does come on draft night?

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“That’s a great question, and that’s something we’re actually worried about,” said Barkley, who plans on being in Dallas for the first round April 26. “I can tell you if that is the case, I’m taking the first plane back.”

Barkley spoke Wednesday inside the Nittany Lions’ indoor football facility, where he never took off his tennis shoes for Penn State’s Pro Day. He tossed the ball with teammates, he cheered them on, he mingled with scouts – including the Colts’ Mike Derice, who chatted with Barkley as the two entered the building. What he didn’t do is workout.

The plan all along was to show something, to run routes, to catch, before the hoard of NFL scouts and personnel men than made the trip to State College. But when Barkley showed up, and didn’t see a single running back coach from any NFL team inside Holuba Hall, he decided he didn’t need to show a thing. No 40-yard dash. No bench press. No drills.

He’d let his combine performance, and his tape from three sparkling seasons at Penn State, speak for itself. In his mind, he’s proven all he needs to.

“I’m not a combine guy,” Barkley said. “I want you to throw on the film and show that I’m a football player.”

Not a combine guy? He ran a 4.4 in Indianapolis, faster than DeSean Jackson at his combine. Barkley’s 41-inch vertical was only inches shy of the running back record, and higher than Julio Jones’ leap. His 29 reps on the bench press were more than Cleveland’s Joe Thomas, a 10-time Pro Bowler at left tackle.

Not bad for not-a-combine-guy.

“It wasn’t my best,” Barkley vowed. “I feel like I can do a lot better,” he said, referring to the 40. “I’m a legit 4.3 guy. I got 4.29 in training.”

No matter now. His dazzling talent isn’t what’s up for debate, or what really matters here. What does: His value. Barkley remains the latest litmus test at his polarizing position. Will he become the first running back since, ahem, Trent Richardson in 2012, taken in the top three?

The first in 12 years to go second?

The first in 23 to go first?

Or will the mad rush of quarterback-needy teams (see: the Browns, maybe the Giants, the Jets, maybe the Broncos, certainly the Bills) near the top of April’s first round force the scary-talented Barkley to tumble to, say, the owners of the sixth pick, the Indianapolis Colts?

“That don’t worry me because I’m not focused on where I get drafted,” Barkley said Wednesday. “One, two, three, that’s cool and all, but it’s all about what you do in the league. I’m just ready to get to a team and get ready to work."

Barkley’s eventual fate will largely rest on what the Giants decide to do at No. 2. New GM Dave Gettleman, a staunch believer in building up the trenches with hulking linemen he likes to call “hog mollies,” could go one of three ways. There’s Notre Dame’s bruising guard, Quenton Nelson – that’s Gettleman’s hog mollie. There’s the quarterback route – something the Giants have seemed to distance themselves from, instead backing an aging Eli Manning for the foreseeable future.

Then there’s Barkley, the would-be splash at a skill position that rarely finds its way into the top 5 these days.

“The bottom line is: Is the guy a football player?” Gettleman said at the combine. “This whole myth of devaluing running backs, I find it kind of comical. At the end of the day, if he’s a great player, he’s a great player, no matter what position he is.”

Maybe it’s just combine speak. Or maybe the Giants know Barkley is just too talented to pass up.

Cleveland owns both the first pick – which is expected to be a quarterback – and the fourth selection, where they also figure to be in play for Barkley. But the Browns did recently sign free-agent running back Carlos Hyde, a move that by no means precludes them from grabbing Barkley fourth overall, but could indicate they’re not shopping for a feature back, certainly not that high in the draft.

The question when it comes to taking Barkley with a premium pick, same with any running back in this QB era: Is he really worth it? In a league defined by the quarterback, and those who can protect the quarterback, and those who can get to the quarterback, the running back’s relevance has dipped considerably.

Consider: Kansas City’s Kareem Hunt led the NFL in rushing as a rookie in 2017; he was drafted in the third round last spring. New Orleans’ Alvin Kamara was the Offensive Rookie of the Year; he’s another third-round pick.

Barkley won’t fall that far.

The question, all of a sudden: Will he fall out of the top five?

“I feel like there’s obviously teams that are going to make trades, and teams that are going move up to the position that they want,” Barkley said. “But I think at this point in the draft (a player isn’t) doing anything to make you go from one to four or four to two or ... if a team wants a quarterback, a team will take a quarterback. If a team wants a running back, a team will take a running back. A team will take who they feel is a need, and who they feel is the best player in the draft, and who is the best need for their team.”

He said he’s open to the idea of private workouts with a team in the coming weeks, but believes he doesn’t have anything left to prove. There are no visits set, not yet at least, but Barkley plans on taking a few in April.

He was honest Wednesday: He’s not worried about where he lands or how he lands there. “I’m over this stage,” Barkley mentioned of the on-field work. In other words: Get him a team and give him the ball.

“Would it be cool to be No. 1? Yes,” Barkley said. “I think it represents the running back position – not me, but the guys who’ve come before me, Le’Veon (Bell), Zeke (Elliott), Todd Gurley and the success that they had in the NFL in recent years. And how valuable the running back position is, that’s a testament to them.

“I just can’t wait to get to a team,” he added. “Whether it’s one, two, or the 35th pick.”

Call Star reporter Zak Keefer at (317) 444-6134 and follow him on Twitter: @zkeefer.