CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Saquon Barkley's agent disputes a report that Barkley's agency Roc Nation has told him to pull an Eli Manning and demand the Browns not draft him.

"As Saquon's I can say on behalf of our entire team that we would be thrilled for Saquon to go to whichever team drafts him,'' his agent, Kim Miale told cleveland.com in a text response. "We know he will be a resounding success for any team fortunate enough to select him.''

Asked if the report were true that Roc Nation advised the Penn State product to pull a Manning, Miale said "no.''

SI, in response to Miale's statement, continues to stand by its reporting and story in the current issue.

In the SI profile on Barkley, Ben Baskin wrote of the running back:

"His Roc Nation handlers, however, don't want him to be taken No. 1. They don't want him in Cleveland. They want him to go second to the Giants and play in the media capital of the world. That's where you can become the Face of the League. His manager even implored him to pull an Eli Manning and demand that the Browns not draft him.

"Barkley never considered the option. Sure, he likes the idea of being back in the city of his birth--even playing for the Jets, the team he grew up rooting for. And of course he's heard countless people tell him that if he ends up in Cleveland, his career will be ruined.''

Baskin goes on to say that "he's happy to take that risk, though. For the last few weeks he has told close friends about a vision he has. He believes that if he brings a championship to the Land, as LeBron did, he'll be hailed as the best athlete of his generation and have a statue built in his honor.''

Roc Nation, the agency owned by Jay-Z, also represents Browns coach Hue Jackson.

Miale, who also represents top 10 running backs Todd Gurley and Leonard Fournette, not only handles all of Barkley's on-field matters and contract but also co-represents him on marketing and endorsement deals along with Michael Yormark, Roc Nation president and chief of branding and strategy.



"He is a transformational player who can go in, contribute on day one, whereas with a quarterback there may be some time where they have to develop," Miale told The Sports Business Journal in January. "I do think he has a real chance at No. 1."



At one point in the pre-draft process, the Browns strongly considered taking Barkley No. 1 overall, but the strategy seemed to shift back to QB at No. 1 when the Jets traded up from No. 6 to No. 3, presumably to take a quarterback.

The thinking was that the Browns couldn't afford to wait until No. 4 to get their first-choice QB with quarterbacks likely to to go No. 2 to the Giants and No. 3 to the Jets.

However, the Browns, who have the No. 1 and No. 4 overall picks, haven't ruled out taking Barkley with either of those picks, or somewhere in between if they trade up or down.

Browns GM John Dorsey, who will hold his pre-draft press conference in Berea on Thursday, has kept his plans under wraps, and hasn't even his shared his top QB yet with Jackson, the coach said Tuesday in a press conference.

But at the NFL Annual Meetings last month, Jackson said Barkley is a top five pick.

"Everything that I've seen, he is,'' Jackson said. "I think he's definitely in the conversation. Tremendous character, tremendous football player and I think he's going to help an organization.''

At the NFL Combine last month, Barkley said it "would be awesome'' if the Browns drafted him No. 1.

"Any team that wants to draft me and bless me with the opportunity to play for their franchise is a blessing,'' Barkley said. "You grow up as a little kid dreaming of playing in the NFL. If it's the Browns, if it's the Giants or whoever, I'm gonna come in with my head low and ready to work.''

As for the challenge of helping a turn around a team that's gone 1-31 over the past two years, he said, "that'd be awesome. If you go to a team like that, obviously, they've had some rough years. But I think they're just a couple of pieces away. They do have a lot of young talent. They've brought in a new offensive coordinator. They only won one game, but they were in a lot of games.

"You want to be a part of something like that. Something that's bigger than yourself. Something that will leave a legacy. Being a part of something special.''

It's not the first time in this pre-draft process that there's been a report of a top prospect wanting to pull a Manning and go to the Giants at No. 2 instead of the Browns.

ESPN reported that UCLA quarterback Josh Rosen might do just that, but Rosen disputed that report at the combine.