Giants running back Saquon Barkley’s historic rookie season earned him plenty of praise and recognition en route to winning Offensive Rookie of The Year and his peers took notice.

Barkley was voted by fellow players as the No. 16 player in the NFL last season on NFL Network’s annual Top 100 player rankings, after producing 2,023 total yards from scrimmage and 15 total touchdowns in 2018.

What could Barkley possibly do for an encore?

The second-year Giants star isn’t ruling out a run at the MVP award, especially if he’s able to help lead his team back to the postseason for the first time since 2016 .

“MVP? Yeah, I think anything is possible,” Barkley said last week. “I am a big believer in that, but my mindset is not just that trophy. Obviously, I am not going to sit here and say “I don’t want to win the MVP,” or “I don’t want to win this or win that.” But I am a big believer. I take care of the little things and focus on (the) team first. It’s a team first mentality and all of the individual awards will take care of themselves.”

The rankings are revealed each year in reverse order and so far, Barkley is the highest-ranked running back, even beating out rushing champion and NFC East rival Ezekiel Elliott. The Cowboys’ workhorse was named the No. 18 player.

Previously, Baltimore Ravens veteran Mark Ingram was ranked No. 80, Denver Broncos rookie Phillip Lindsay came in No. 68, Pittsburgh Steelers breakout star James Conner was No. 62, Carlina Panthers’ Christian McCaffrey was voted No. 42 and Los Angeles Chargers’ Melvin Gordon was ranked No. 34.

Matt Lombardo may be reached at MLombardo@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @MattLombardoNFL