Saquon Barkley 2022 Fantasy Forecast

Saquon Barkley has tormented fantasy owners for the last two seasons. However, his recent performances should not be how fantasy owners view him. Saquon tore his ACL during the beginning of the 2020 season which caused him to miss the rest of the year. He returned to the field in 2021 but was not fully recovered. A consensus of sports doctors say that it takes two full years for an NFL player to completely recover both physically and mentally from an ACL tear. Going into 2022, Saquon is now fully healthy and fantasy managers should remember how good he was before the injury when he produced over 3400 yards and 23 touchdowns during his

first two seasons in the NFL.

In 2022 Barkley finds himself in a better situation with the Giants. The Giants hired new head coach Brian Daboll who for the last four seasons was the offensive coordinator for the Buffalo Bills. Despite the fact that the Giants will probably still be a bad team in 2022, this hire will be key for Saquon’s individual success. You're probably thinking “but Bills’ running backs were terrible for fantasy when Daboll was their offensive coordinator.” This would be correct, but what good coordinators do is find ways to utilize their best players. For the Bills this was Josh Allen and Stefon Diggs - not Devin Singletary and Zach Moss.

Despite his recent disappointment, Saquon is by far the most talented offensive player on the Giants roster and Daboll will prominently feature him in the team’s gameplan. The last time Daboll coached teams with a running back of Saquon’s caliber was when he served as the offensive coordinator for the 2010 Browns, 2011 Dolphins, and 2012 Chiefs. The running backs on these teams were Peyton Hillis in 2010, Reggie Bush in 2011, and Jamaal Charles in 2012. Much like the Giants, all three of these teams finished near the bottom of the NFL standings. However, the average statline of the three running backs was 257 carries and 46 receptions for 1593 all purpose yards and 9 touchdowns. In fact, in 2010 Peyton Hillis had a career-high 1654 total yards, more than double the next highest mark of his career. If Daboll can turn Hillis into a fantasy star, he can certainly do the same with Saquon.