Giants mailbag: Breaking down the backfield behind Saquon Barkley

You ask, we answer. The Post is fielding questions from readers about New York’s biggest pro sports teams and getting our beat writers to answer them in a series of regularly published mailbags. In today’s installment: the Giants.

We need another running back if [Saquon Barkley] goes down. … Who? — David Monroe

Well, the Giants signed Dion Lewis in free agency, and he should have plenty of tread left on his tires. Lewis is 29, but he carried the ball just 54 times last year for the Titans — he became an afterthought as Derrick Henry was running wild. Lewis had 155 rushing attempts in 2018. He is not a superstar, but he is a serviceable backup, good in pass protection and he can catch the ball out of the backfield.

I also think Wayne Gallman deserves a chance to show what he can do for the new coaching staff. The guy has some talent, and it is not his fault that as a young guy coming into the league he is stuck behind Barkley. The Giants do not need someone special behind Barkley, because he is going to carry the load, as long as he is healthy. Lewis can get the job done if Barkley is off the field. Lewis should also be a good, veteran presence off the field for Barkley.

You can have the best corners and safeties in the NFL, but without pressure on the QB, they will be mediocre, so how [are the Giants] going to manage that? — Leroy F Aiken

This is not entirely true. Who were the Patriots’ sack leaders in the eight years Joe Judge was in New England working on special teams? Chandler Jones, Rob Ninkovich, Trey Flowers and Jamie Collins. Jones is a stud. The others? Good players who never got more than eight sacks in a season with the Patriots.

Ideally, you can put together a defensive line that has Michael Strahan, Osi Umenyiora, Justin Tuck and Jason Pierre-Paul on it, but that is not common. Yes, I would like to see the Giants with at least one accomplished pass-rusher. They are going to have to get development and improvement out of Lorenzo Carter and Oshane Ximines. By the way, Ximines did have 4.5 sacks as a rookie — more than Strahan, Umenyiora and Tuck had in their rookie seasons.

The Giants are building the back end of their defense. I think they have several interesting young players/prospects, and signing James Bradberry was huge. So was getting Xavier McKinney in the second round of the draft. The Giants don’t have to be in the top 10 in the NFL in sacks in order to have a solid defense. Let’s see if defensive coordinator Patrick Graham can manufacture pressure if the secondary does its job.

Although both the [Ben] McAdoo and [Pat] Shurmur tenures ended in failure, I get the impression Giants ownership harbors more regrets about the Shurmur hire and even has some inner anger about the way the team was coached for his two years. Do you agree? — William Kreudl

William, I totally agree. Look, McAdoo went 11-5 in his first year as an NFL head coach. That is not easy to do. He did not suddenly get dumb in his second year. The defense had a bunch of mercenary-type players in 2016, and those guys did not play as well for McAdoo in 2017. There were issues a young head coach needed help dealing with and ownership, and the front office failed McAdoo by not giving him the guidance and help he needed.

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Shurmur was a completely different deal. He was a veteran guy with previous head-coaching experience with the Browns. They made a big deal about Shurmur being an “adult’’ in the room when they hired him. It turned out to be a really bad hire. Shurmur’s teams were not nearly as well-coached as McAdoo’s teams, and the staff Shurmur put together was not as good as McAdoo’s staff. You are absolutely correct that Giants ownership has more regrets about hiring Shurmur. The regret about McAdoo is mostly about not helping him get through the tough times and not being more patient with him.

Are there any restrictions on the Giants trading Leonard Williams even though he just signed the franchise-tag tender? — David J. Kowatch

There are no restrictions once the player signs the tag. This is where the phrase “tag and trade’’ comes from. Williams signed the tag, and the Giants can trade him any time they want. The team on the receiving end of the trade could either pay Williams the franchise-tag number or try to negotiate a new deal with him.

I would not hold my breath on this. The Giants think Williams can be a really good player for them for a long time, and he is just 26. The key will be if they can get him signed to a multiyear deal that makes sense. Having him play on the $16 million franchise tag is not money well spent.

How many players are still around that [Jerry] Reese drafted? — Robert

Evan Engram, Dalvin Tomlinson, Gallman, Sterling Shepard. That is it, and that is pathetic. This is the main reason why the franchise deteriorated so terribly the past three years. There are four — four! — players remaining on the roster from Jerry Reese’s time as the GM. There is not one — not one! — player on the roster from the 2013-15 drafts. That is brutal. During a four-year span, the Giants in the first round selected Justin Pugh, Odell Beckham Jr., Ereck Flowers and Eli Apple. All of them are gone. Is it any wonder this team has been so bad?