For the second straight offseason, the New York Giants have lingering questions in the running back position as Saquon Barkley’s future with the franchise hangs in the balance of the free agent market.Should the front-runner elect to part ways after testing the field, they’ll need to reevaluate what they have left, starting with Matt Breida.
A former undrafted free agent out of Georgia Southern, Breida signed a one-year deal with the Giants in March 2022 to serve as the experienced backup rusher to Barkley. Before that, he spent stints with San Francisco, who signed him as an undrafted player, from 2017-2020, Miami and Buffalo, the last two teams having him for one season each.
Breida was a three-year starter and two-time First-team All-Sun Belt honoree with Georgia Southern from 2013-16. The Brandon, Florida native carried the pigskin 542 times in his 37 games for the Eagles, a workload spanning 3,470 rushing yards (6.9 average) and 37 touchdowns that finished as the sixth-best campaign in school history.
In his junior season, Breida hit career-high markers with 203 carries for 1,609 yards and 17 touchdowns to lead the entire Sun Belt conference.
His numbers decreased during his senior campaign, but his 8.7 and 7.9 average yards per carry during his tenure remain the two best annual averages in Georgia Southern’s record books.
Starting his professional career in the Bay Area, Breida played the backup role to Carlos Hyde in 2017 and appeared in 43 games with over 1,900 rushing yards (4.9 average) and six touchdowns.
The production improved significantly in his second and third years with the 49ers when he notched two consecutive stat lines of at least 623 rushing yards and an average carry of 5.1 yards.
He added 381 yards and three touchdowns through the air
Throwing those numbers into his resume, Breida now holds 98 games played with 575 carries for 2,652 yards (4.6 average) and nine touchdowns.
His receiving stats sit at 120 receptions for 935 yards and six touchdowns, but he has failed to score one in that way over the past two seasons.