{"id":888982,"date":"2026-10-20T15:50:12","date_gmt":"2026-10-20T15:50:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/888982\/"},"modified":"2026-10-20T15:50:12","modified_gmt":"2026-10-20T15:50:12","slug":"john-harbaugh-waiting-for-saquon-barkley-circumstance-in-giants-rb-room","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/888982\/","title":{"rendered":"John Harbaugh waiting for ‘Saquon Barkley circumstance’ in Giants RB room"},"content":{"rendered":"

John Harbaugh is ready to adjourn the Giants running back by committee.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He just needs someone \u2014 anyone \u2014 to step up as the chairperson first.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI would love for us to be in that kind of a circumstance,\u201d Harbaugh said. \u201cA Derrick Henry circumstance or a Saquon Barkley circumstance, or whatever it might be. That would be great. Our run game hasn\u2019t earned that yet, and none of those guys have.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Oh, the irony.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Giants had Barkley for six seasons but general manager Joe Schoen devalued bell-cow running backs and allowed Barkley to sign with the Eagles<\/a> in a free agency dispute over less than $1.5 million per year. Barkley became the NFL Offensive Player of the Year and a Super Bowl champion.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Devin Singletary was signed cheaper and Tyrone Tracy Jr. was drafted in the fifth round to replace Barkley as a tandem in 2024. Then Cam Skattebo was drafted in the fourth round in 2025. Harbaugh added Najee Harris this summer.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That quartet combined for 14 carries for 34 yards against the NFL\u2019s No. 30 rushing defense in a 34-27 loss to the Saints<\/a>. The Giants rank No. 22 with 3.8 yards per carry for the season.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s disappointing,\u201d Harbaugh said. \u201cI thought we\u2019d be running the ball better at this point in time in terms of outcome and result, and we haven\u2019t been able to do it. But we have to find it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"DevinDevin Singletary (26) of the New York Giants carries the ball against the New Orleans Saints during the first quarter at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., Sunday, Oct. 18, 2026. Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not blocking well enough. We\u2019re not running well enough. We\u2019re not putting up enough yards. We\u2019re not putting up enough consistency. We\u2019re not efficient in our run game. It\u2019s not for lack of effort. It\u2019s not for lack of trying. We\u2019ve run the ball quite a bit. We\u2019re not doing it at the level we really plan on doing to be the type of football team we want to be. We want to do it much more effectively than we have.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Skattebo was surprised<\/a> to see his role slashed so dramatically \u2014 from averaging 18 touches per game to zero on six snaps against the Saints \u2014 as punishment for fumbling four times in five games. Harris bemoaned that it is hard for backs to get in a rhythm when touches are split four ways<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cUnderstand it. Respect it,\u201d Harbaugh said. \u201cAlso understand that that\u2019s earned.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Tracy scored two touchdowns \u2014 one rushing and one receiving \u2014 against the Saints.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\u201cMy advice would be \u2026 do the most you can with the opportunities you get and you\u2019re sure to get more opportunities,\u201d Harbaugh said. \u201cDo something. So, I get it that you want to get out there and you want to get a rhythm, but that rhythm is earned, too, and it just hasn\u2019t happened yet. Definitely want it to happen. A couple weeks ago, we kind of went that direction and the running game was no different than it was this last game.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

So, now what? Harbaugh has employed yearlong committees and ridden workhorses (Henry) with the Ravens.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI know that each of the guys \u2014 because I\u2019ve talked to all those guys \u2014 want to be that [No. 1] guy,\u201d Harbaugh said. \u201cThey\u2019re not advocating for the other guy to be that guy. They\u2019re advocating for themself to be that guy. My advice is take the job when you get the ball.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"John Harbaugh is ready to adjourn the Giants running back by committee.\u00a0 He just needs someone \u2014 anyone…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":888983,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[119189,977,349,99],"class_list":["post-888982","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-john-harbaugh","tag-new-york-giants","tag-nfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/888982","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=888982"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/888982\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/888983"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=888982"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=888982"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=888982"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}