Phil Simms won two Super Bowl rings with the Giants, but with the addition of rookie running back Saquon Barkley, the studio analyst for "The NFL Today" on CBS believes Eli Manning has a better collection of dynamic offensive weapons than he ever had in his career.

"It's pretty unbelievable," Simms told NJ Advance Media by phone Tuesday. "When you think about it. You have Evan Engram, even though I know he's out for a few weeks, Odell Beckham Jr., then you put Saquon Barkley in that group, and people forget about Sterling Shepard — he's no shrinking violet, that's for sure — It might not be the best group Eli's ever thrown with, but it's better than any group I ever threw with.It's up there with a lot of the good teams in the NFL, as far as offensive playmakers."

The Giants are 1-2 on the season, but prior to Sunday's 25-of-29 passing performance for 297 yards and a pair of touchdowns in a 27-22 victory, Manning faced plenty of outside criticism. Meanwhile, debate raged on over whether the organization erred in picking Barkley over one of the potential franchise quarterbacks such as the Jets' Sam Darnold, Bills' Josh Allen, or Cardinals' Josh Rosen, with the No. 2 choice in April's NFL Draft.

Simms has little doubt that the Giants made the right decision by adding Barkley, who has already amassed 353 yards from scrimmage and a pair of rushing touchdowns through his first three career games.

"This thing, that you have to draft the heir apparent right away is just another cliche that goes thrown out there," Simms said. "This year, there's going to be another good crop of quarterbacks coming out. It's going to be pretty good. You know what's going to happen the following year? It's going to be another good crop of quarterbacks coming out.

"Most of the kids, unless you're taking Lamar Jackson, most of these quarterbacks are petty close to being ready to go. So, this thing that they have to hurry up and get the heir apparent -- and what, let him sit there for three years before playing? -- that'll never happen in this world. That day is over."

The Giants have the chance to potentially drop a rookie quarterback such as Oregon's Justin Herbert, West Virginia's Will Grier, Missouri's Drew Lock, or Auburn's Jarrett Stidham into an offense with Barkley that has a chance to fast-track their development in the long-run, but raise the ceiling for Manning in the short-term as well.

"Of course Saquon's going to open up the offense," Simms said. "You have to respect him. The week before against the Cowboys, he made some of the greatest two or three yard runs that I've ever seen. Even some of the balls he caught out of the backfield, it was just like college. That holds true a lot of times for running backs. The first guy can't bring him down by himself. If you want to bring him down, you better hit him at the ankles. Because otherwise, he's breaking that tackle."

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