MIAMI BEACH, Fla. _ Jason Garrett spoke with Saquon Barkley on the phone shortly after he'd been hired as the Giants' new offensive coordinator.
"One of the first things he told me was: 'You know I like to run the ball, right?' " Barkley told Newsday on Wednesday on Radio Row at Super Bowl LIV. "I was like: 'For sure I already know that. I've been on the other side of that for the last two years watching Zeke.' "
Barkley said he has yet to speak with Ezekiel Elliott about Garrett, who was the coach of the Cowboys for the past nine-and-a-half seasons, but he has heard plenty of good things from others around the league about his new play-caller. And, he said, he's excited to start hearing some more concrete ideas about how the Giants plan to deploy him.
As for his new coach, Barkley said he sat down with Joe Judge in his office.
"Had a great conversation with him," Barkley said. "You can tell it's no joke. We're gonna be in there and we're gonna be ready to work and he's gonna try to lead us to be the best team we could possibly be."
Barkley will also have a new running backs coach in Burton Burns. Although Burns has not coached for the past several years when he was an administrator at the University of Alabama, one of his top pupils at that school thinks he'll be able to help Barkley a lot.
"Saquon is elite and I think Burns) is going to be trying to add value to Saquon," said Mark Ingram, running back for the Ravens, on Radio Row. "Obviously Saquon is special and I think coach Burns will give him tools that will help him be even more special."
Ingram isn't the only running back Burns helped mold for the NFL. At Alabama he also coached Derrick Henry, Eddie Lacy, Alvin Kamara and Trent Richardson.
"He's just getting a coach who loves his players, who was very knowledgeable about the game of football, who understands the running back position, understands running backs' eyes and knows how to teach running backs how to be an elite running back," Ingram said. "He's a great coach, great father figure and an asset to any organization because of the person he is."
All of which has Barkley pumped for his third NFL season. "It's awesome," Barkley said. "I'm excited and I can't wait to get there and get going."
