Despite flirting with the Philadelphia Eagles, RB Devonta Freeman has signed with the New York Giants.
After a disastrous Week 1 game which included poor running and even worse pass-blocking from their running backs, the Philadelphia Eagles reached out to free agent Devonta Freeman. Howie Roseman’s team had long been linked to the former Atlanta power back, and it seemed like he was finally ready to bring him as the RB2 behind Miles Sanders.
However, after a solid performance from Sanders in Week 2, and Saquon Barkley going down with a torn ACL, it appears that it will in fact be the NY Giants that land Freeman’s services.
There you go. #Giants are landing FA RB Devonta Freeman, pending tests. And he’ll have more than enough opportunities to re-establish himself. https://t.co/nOkQCGLH4j
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) September 22, 2020
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Freeman is a 2x Pro Bowler whose best days came in 2015 and 2016, as he’s seriously struggled with injuries over the last few years. He had a decent enough 2019 campaign with the Falcons, racking up 1066 scrimmage yards while proving versatile in the receiving game.
Freeman held out looking for RB1 money this offseason, but no one ever came calling. It seemed like he was finally ready to settle for a backup gig in Philadelphia this past week. That is until New York came blowing up his phone following Barkley’s injury.
Going from Barkley to Freeman is a noticeable drop off, but being able to instantly sign a guy of Freeman’s ability definitely softens the blow a bit for New York. Freeman can come in and probably give you 70-80% of the production that Saquon would give you, providing a decent enough run game for Daniel Jones to operate out of.
The Philadelphia Eagles will take on Freeman and the Giants in Week 7 and Week 9, and their run defense has been absolutely putrid here in 2020 thus far. Despite employing one of the highest paid defensive tackle rooms in NFL history, the Eagles got absolutely steamrolled by the Rams rushing attack last weekend, allowing close to 200 yards on the ground.
If that trend continues for the Eagles by the time the Giants roll around on their schedule, expect Freeman to get a good chunk of carries as NY looks to bully the Eagles at the line of scrimmage.