Saquon Barkley to the Baltimore Ravens gaining traction?

The Ravens changed Offensive Coordinators last summer and everybody thought they would ditch the running game while going all-air. Not happening!

Baltimore has kept using a dominating ground game led by Lamar Jackson along with a backfield that, sadly, lost its main performer in J.K. Dobbins barely one game into the season.

With Dobbins out for the year, speculation is starting to build around the possibility of Baltimore acquiring a true bell-cow running back via trade sooner rather than later.

After rumors emerged earlier this week linking the Ravens with a New York running back from Gang Green...

...now we have the Big Blue version of the story with a potential trade between the Baltimore Ravens and the New York Giants involving disgruntled rusher Saquon Barkley.

Alex Kay of Bleacher Report proposed this trade scenario, suggesting that the Ravens might be able to complete the transaction by sending "a late-Day 2 pick" to the Giants.

"Rather than get nothing but a compensatory selection in return for Barkley, the Giants should be working the phones to see what other teams may be willing to offer. Getting a late-Day 2 pick from a team like the Baltimore Ravens—a club that has Super Bowl dreams but lost starting running back J.K. Dobbins to a season-ending injury and has gotten mixed results from backups Justice Hill and Gus Edwards in the weeks since—could be the best path forward."

- Alex Kay, Bleacher Report

Kay outlines the reasoning behind this trade proposal by mentioning the Giants' nothing-but-lost season as they enter Week 6 boasting a 1–4 record.

Barkley, once a dynamic force in the league but still a young player even for the much-maligned running back position, has faced setbacks and injuries of late, including a torn ACL in 2020.

In his writeup, Kay asserts that the recent ankle injury Barkley suffered signals a need for the Giants to consider parting ways with Barkley, especially given his impending free agency in 2024 after he inked a one-year deal with Big Blue a few months ago in July at a franchise-player rate valuation.

If all Baltimore has to trade to the Giants in exchange for the game-changing running back is a second or third-round pick, that should be a no-brainer decision for the Ravens brass to make, starting with GM Eric DeCosta.

The Ravens will regain a true RB1, will still stay in the same situation they were with Dobbins in terms of fielding an elite running back on a contract year, and would only surrender a third-rounder in a season in which all signs point toward Super Bowl contention.

It's now or never for the Ravens, so they should be rushing to the phone to call New York and try to complete this deal before another franchise beats them to it.

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