General manager Joe Schoen of the New York Giants moved quickly to acquire Devin Singletary as a replacement for Saquon Barkley, who elected to leave the team and sign with the Philadelphia Eagles, a rival team in the division.
Singletary’s career started with the Buffalo Bills, where he was taught by his offensive coordinator, Brian Daboll, and scouted by Schoen. Singletary played for the Houston Texans the previous season, helping the young team develop into a contender for the postseason.
Strength: Superior Inside Running
Singletary excels as an interior runner. He’s good because he can make one or two cuts and then burst vertically. He is adept at seeing obstacles in his path and cutting through traffic with style. He can go through arm tackles and keeps a good distance behind his pads.
Even if some of these runs don’t look particularly noteworthy, Singletary typically gains yards when defenders close unchecked.
When opponents are out of position, Singletary takes advantage of them by making reads faster than other backs would. This talent was evident the whole Houston vs. Cincinnati game from the previous season.
The Great: He Hits Doubles Consistently
Let’s use an analogy from baseball to show you how different degrees of running back yardage are acquired. Singletary can hit doubles quite well. He consistently receives yardage that is above average.
Due to his quick one-cut skill, low center of gravity, and hard running style, opponents are forced to reach for arm tackles, which he can avoid. The offense can be kept on track or saved if it veers off course thanks to Singletary’s propensity to break off huge runs.
He’s perfect for four-minute drills where the team needs to ice the game because of his ability to gain yards on runs that are above average. Several of these runs were generated by Singletary during the Bengals game.
The Weakness : Not a Big Hitter
It’s rare to find a baseball player that hits a lot of home runs in addition to doubles. Singletary accelerates and bursts quite well. Singletary rips off a number of above-average runs for these reasons.
He lacks the long speed, though, to regularly run from a distance to the house. He had eleven rushes of five yards or more in the Bengals game. One sprint resulted in a 22-yard gain, while the other four went between 11 and 14 yards. That would be no home runs, but ten doubles and a triple.
In 2023, his longest run was just 24 yards.