Giants’ Saquon Barkley sees extra motivation to ‘shut everybody up’

The chip on Saquon Barkley’s shoulder continues to grow.

Barkley told The 2ndWind Podcast this week that he knows “people are really counting me out” as he enters the fifth and final year of his rookie contract. And that gives him extra motivation to “shut everyone up.”

“Now that’s a killer mindset,” he said. “Now it’s like, you know what, the hell out of everybody. I’m ready to go crazy and Ima let the world feel me.”

Barkley has played in just 15 of a possible 33 games over the past two seasons due to injury. Taking him No. 2 overall in the 2018 NFL Draft was derided by former general manager Dave Gettleman and his organization as a bad investment.

After a dynamic rookie season, Barkley’s production also fell short of expectations.

But Barkley has had enough. He came into training camp in great physical shape and spent the offseason delivering strong rhetoric to doubters.

He has consistently told people who don’t believe in him to stay on their side of the table when the table turns on Barkley’s fate. Last week, he publicly disputed the notion that he dances too much in the backfield.

And on this week’s podcast, he spoke more forcefully than ever.

“Do I feel like I’m back? “I feel better,” Barkley said. “To be honest. I am older now. I’m 25. I’ve been through some things, ups and downs. And now I’m in a situation where – you know me, I always think I’m always being counted out – but now it’s actually here. It’s actually real. People really count on me. People try to write me off.

“And I don’t really do it for other people’s pleasure or to make other people happy,” the runner continued. “I do this because I just want to be great. But now I have extra motivation, extra motivation to push me to go out and be like, you know, shut everybody up.

Barkley then finished with a bang.

“Because last year was more like hell, the game was taken away from me,” he said. “I never had a season where I didn’t go play football. Now that’s a killer mindset. Now it’s like, you know what, damn everybody. I’m ready to go crazy and I’m going to let the world experience me.”