The New York Giants see Saquon Barkley as ‘a near-perfect prospect’ a scout tells the New York Post. General Manager Dave Gettleman all-in on drafting Barkley with No. 2 overall pick

The NFL Draft is less than two weeks away and the chaos is still swirling around what the New York Giants will do with the No. 2 overall pick.

Will the Giants trade down? Is USC quarterback Sam Darnold the selection if available at No. 2?

There have been so many possibilities being thrown out over the last couple of weeks about what the Giants are looking to do with the second overall pick.

Penn State running back Saquon Barkley has emerged again as a target for the Giants No. 2, reports The New York Post’s Paul Schwartz.

A source with knowledge of the Giants’ draft process told the Post’s Schwartz that the team and general manager Dave Gettleman see Barkley as “a near-perfect prospect.” He would go on to tell Schwartz:

“I thought all along this is the guy Dave wants,’’ said a national NFL scout who knows Gettleman from crossing paths with him on the road over the years. “And he might get him, if Cleveland is dumb enough not to take him at No. 1.”

It was reported last month by Schwartz that Barkley was one of the “top-three options” the Giants were looking at to select with No. 2 pick, including Notre Dame offensive lineman Quenton Nelson and NC State defensive end/outside linebacker Bradley Chubb.

Taking Barkley with the second overall pick would be a nice move for the Giants. He would upgrade the running back position tremendously and give the Giants a nice one-two punch with the recent signing of former Carolina Panthers tailback Jonathan Stewart in the backfield, with Wayne Gallman as a third option.

Barkley has the potential to make the same type of impact for a team like running backs Todd Gurley, Ezekiel Elliott and Leonard Fournette who were all Top-10 picks. The Giants even feel Barkley will be a much better player than them, the scout told Scqartz.

“They think he’s a better player than Ezekiel Elliott, who went No. 4 to the Cowboys in 2016,” the scout told Schwartz.

That’s a big statement seeing that Elliott has 2,614 yards rushing, 632 yards receiving and 25 total touchdowns in just 25 NFL games.

Barkley, though, is looked at as a far superior pass-catcher than Elliott is. Not to mention that Barkley doesn’t have any of the off the field issues and character concerns that Elliott has.

It’s not a surprise, too, that Gettleman would use a first-round pick on a running back that can be an all-purpose back. When he and new Giants offensive coordinator Mike Shula were in Carolina last year, they took Stanford running back Christian McCaffrey with the No. 8 overall pick in the 2017 NFL Draft.

Shula loved using McCaffrey in a variety of ways during the 2017 season, not just using him as a running back in the backfield, but also as a receiver in the slot.

Gettleman and Shula may very well see that same type of ability in Barkley, and even more, with his size and strength to be a powerful runner between the tackles.

It was just last week that a picture of Barkley wearing a New York Giants sweatshirt at a barber shop in Pennsylvania was surfaced by TMZ.

Is it a sign that he will be the pick for the Giants at No. 2, who knows?

With just 10 days left until the draft, many twists and turns can happen with the Giants regarding the No. 2 overall pick.

One thing is for sure, whatever the Giants decide to do with the No. 2 pick, it will make a huge impact on the draft itself.

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