Saquon Barkley is a big believer in fellow New York Giants rookie Kyle Lauletta.

According to Barkley, whenever the fourth-round draft pick gets an opportunity to play quarterback for the Giants, he is going to surprise a lot of people.

"Lauletta is an awesome guy," Barkley said of the rookie quarterback, via NJ.com. "I've got a great friendship with him. He throws a great ball. He is going to be a heck of a player one day. He is a hard worker, too. Whenever he gets the chance to play, he will put in the time and effort and he will be ready. That could be in a year or you never know. He understands that. He has the right approach."

One of the things the Giants liked most about Lauletta and why they were so high on him during the pre-draft process is his mental processing. Lauletta works through his progressions extremely fast and does an excellent job getting rid of the football to the right read. In head coach Pat Shurmur's offense, it is vital for the quarterback to work through his progressions fast, see the field at hyper speed, and get rid of the football on time. It is equally important for a quarterback to anticipate and throw his receivers open giving them opportunities to create yardage after the catch.

This one of the key reasons Shurmur decided to go with Lauletta instead of second-year quarterback Davis Webb when final cuts rolled around this past September and the Giants only had room on the roster for one developmental quarterback.

"I like the fact that he’ll decide what he’s looking at, see it and pull the trigger," Shurmur said of Lauletta in September. "He’s very decisive in what he does. He’s a gamer of sorts and we’re looking forward to working with that."

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If push came to shove, Shurmur would feel very confident turning the offensive reigns over to the rookie in regular season game.

"Very comfortable," Shurmur said definitively when asked how comfortable he is about playing Lauletta.

Shurmur offered similar praise for Lauletta after his first live action with the Giants in their preseason opener vs. the Cleveland Browns this past August.

"He’s very calm, and I think he finds a way to make plays," Shurmur said of Lauletta's first preseason action. "He had a nice deep ball down the sideline to Amba [Etta-Tawo] that ended up being a [pass interference]. In fact, somebody asked me at one point why we practice the one-handed catches – that was it right there. They arm-barred us and Amba had a chance to make the one-handed catch. We got the penalty, but we certainly would’ve wanted the catch. But I [think] he’s got a calm presence about him. I think he lost control of the clock once, we got the ball snapped, but those are all things you learn when you’re playing. So, it wasn’t a bad performance to start out for him."

Lauletta has a lot of believers in the organization and legendary Giants general manager Ernie Accorsi is one of them. The man tasked with finding the next Giants franchise quarterback in 2004 and succeeding by having a conviction on Eli Manning, now has a conviction on another Giants quarterback. According to Accorsi, Lauletta has what it takes to eventually take over as the Giants franchise quarterback once Manning retires. Accorsi believes the Giants made the right move to use the No. 108 overall pick on Lauletta, but if he were in their shoes, he might have pulled the trigger on drafting Lauletta earlier in the draft.

“The steal of their draft might be a quarterback — Kyle Lauletta from Richmond,” Accorsi told the Talk of Fame Sports Network. “That kid walks into the Senior Bowl … and I know the Senior Bowl is like an all-star game. Yet with all those big names he walks away with the MVP award.”

The Senior Bowl featured two of the first three rookie quarterbacks to come off the big board within the first seven picks of the 2018 NFL Draft in Baker Mayfield and Josh Allen. Despite playing among those quarterbacks, Lauletta rose to the occasion and performed admirably en route to winning the award. Lauletta completed 8-of-12 passes for 198 yards and three touchdowns for the South in a 45-16 victory over the North in the Reese's Senior Bowl. Most importantly, Giants coaches in attendance were able to see how Lauletta performs at a higher level of competition after playing at a small school like Richmond. The Senior Bowl features the best senior players in the nation from all of the schools (including all of the Power-5 conferences).

“The only thing he does not have is a howitzer. But neither did Montana. Neither did Garopplo. Neither did Brady when he came out,” Accorsi said. “You can increase arm strength. But he’s got everything else. He’s got footwork. He’s got the great release. He’s a winner. He’s taken teams down the field [in the last two minutes]. I know the coach at Albany said when the game was over, ‘He beat me in the fourth quarter two straight years. I went over to him to make sure he has no eligibility left.’

“I really think that was a great pick. I was hopeful they’d pick him in the third round because they had two threes, and they passed on him. Fortunately, he was there in the fourth.”

It's funny Accorsi should mention Garoppolo as that is the NFL player Lauletta has been compared to before in the past. The Giants fans could get their first look at Lauletta at some point during the 2018 regular season if the team falls out of playoff contention.