The New York Giants are entering a new era.
Saquon Barkley is no longer in town, and replacing him with Devin Singletary wasn’t exactly exciting.
With all due respect to a solid back like Singletary, he’s not in the same tier as Barkley — not many running backs are.
That’s why NFL analyst Craig Carton was livid when he heard team owner John Mara claiming that he was ‘sick’ about the fact that they lost Barkley.
Talking on The Carton Show, he stated that those were crocodile tears, adding that he was the only guy who could’ve actually prevented Barkley from leaving.
“These are crocodile tears. John Mara’s the guy that could’ve prevented it from happening. It’s a cop-out,” Carton said.
Giants Owner John Mara says he was 'sick' to lose Saquon Barkley to the Eagles:
"These are crocodile tears. John Mara's the guy that could've prevented it from happening. It's a cop-out." — @craigcartonlive pic.twitter.com/xMso4FTAjX
— The Carton Show (@TheCartonShow) March 26, 2024
Carton stated that he has plenty of respect for John Mara, so that wasn’t a personal shot at him, but he still thinks his words were nothing more than a cop-out.
Truth be told, he might be right on point here.
Barkley spent literal years talking about his desire to stay with the team and how he wanted to be a Giant for life.
The Giants low-balled him last offseason, franchise-tagged him, and then only managed to give him a one-year pact.
Then, they didn’t even bother tagging him this offseason, allowing him to become an unrestricted free agent.
The fact of the matter is that the Giants could’ve kept Saquon Barkley for the remainder of his career if they had wanted to.
They chose not to, which is valid.
But there’s no point in talking about how sick you are about losing him; that’s nothing more than PR.
NEXT: John Mara Gets Honest About Giants Potentially Drafting QB