With the start of the National Football League season less than two weeks away, football enthusiasts have their eyes on two Lehigh Valley players who can make a significant impact for their respective teams - Saquon Barkley, running back for the New York Giants, and Jahan Dotson, wide receiver for the Washington Commanders.

Both had outstanding careers at Penn State products and their respective high schools - Barkley, a Whitehall grad, and Dotson, one of the best to ever come out of Nazareth High School.

Without a doubt, both will be under intense pressure to do well this season. After a gangbusters rookie season and a pretty decent second year, Barkley has had major issues with injuries, so although there have been high hopes for him to replicate or exceed his early heroics, he has had what can be charitably called mediocre seasons since then.

The Giants chose him as the number 2 overall draft pick in 2018, and he did not disappoint. Barkley racked up 2,028 overall yards, with 1,307 coming on the ground on 261 tries, or 5.1 yards per carry, second best in the league that season. He scored 11 touchdowns and rushed for 50 first downs.

He was equally impressive by catching 91 out of 121 passes thrown to him for an efficiency rate of 75.2%, giving him another 721 yards of offense. His heroics led to his being named “Rookie of the Year.’’

Despite an injury in his second season, he still ran for more than 1,000 yards, the only running back in Giants’ history to have 1,000 yards rushing in their first two seasons. Starting in season three, however, he was sidelined again for injuries, which dogged him in 2020 and 2021. Last season, Barkley rushed for just 593 yards, a major disappointment.

Now in his fifth year, Barkley’s $7.2 million one-year contract was picked up by the Giants in April 2021. He must show his team and the league that he can return to his early form and give the hapless Giants some offensive punch. They finished in the basement of the NFC East last year with a 4-13 record. During Barkley’s four previous years with the team, the Giants are 19-46. In 2020, when they were 6-10, they finished the season just a game off the first-place Washington Football Team (now known as the Commanders and formerly as the Redskins), a testament to how dismal the NFC East teams have generally been.

With perks and incentives, Barkley made nearly $8 million in his rookie year, part of a $31,194,750 four-year contract that included a $20.77 million signing bonus. These were incredibly impressive numbers for a young man who was just 21 at the time.

Barkley, now 25, is not oblivious to the pressure he is under. He realizes that if he does not return to his rookie-year form that it could have dire consequences on his future in the NFL, although he contends that Giants management promised he would not be traded this year.

Barkley said he is tired of all of the speculative and negative articles written about him. He said his goal this season is to prove that he is still the guy who tore up the league in his rookie year. “I have a lot to prove this year,” he said.

Meanwhile, Jahan Dotson, an overall 16th pick in the first round of this year’s NFL draft, signed a four-year, $15 million contract with the Washington Commanders, which includes an $8.1 million signing bonus and an average annual salary of $3.76 million.

Although Dotson has performed well in training camp, the jury is still out on whether he lives up to some of the pre-season hype.

It was just recently that Dotson’s star has begun to burn more brightly occurred when Lance Zierlein of NFL Media named Dotson as one of the 10 candidates for the Offensive Rookie of the Year Award, although Dotson was ranked last among the 10.

Dotson became the first Penn State wide receiver to be picked in the first round of the NFL draft since Bryant Johnson was chosen in 2003.

The Giants and Commanders play against each on Dec. 4 and again on Dec. 18.

By Bruce Frassinelli | tneditor@tnonline.com

The foregoing opinions do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editorial Board or Times News LLC.