At the conclusion of his Youth Football Camp in Jersey City today, Giants running back Saquon Barkley confirmed that he will not be attending the team’s mandatory minicamp this week, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter. Barkley’s time away from the Giants continues as he still hasn’t signed his franchise tender. 
New York chose Barkley to franchise tag at the last second but claimed that it had full intentions of extending the veteran running back’s contract, with the tag serving as a backup plan in case negotiations failed. Barkley made it clear very early that he had no intention of signing his franchise tender before the team’s offseason program. This was news but nothing groundbreaking, considering he wouldn’t incur any fines for skipping the voluntary offseason workouts.
Waiting to sign franchise tenders is nothing new, as the tag is often viewed as a last-ditch option to retain a player if an extension can’t be reached. Waiting to sign also protects the tagged player from receiving fines for holding out from minicamp. A player like Tony Pollard, who signed his franchise tender back in March, would be subject to fines for missing minicamp, while Barkley can continue to hold out without penalty until the regular season begins, like Le’Veon Bell did years ago.
Speaking of Bell, Barkley hasn’t ruled out such a holdout. He seems intent on pushing the Giants at least until the last second. When asked about the potential of playing the season out on the franchise tag, he refused to acknowledge that he’s even considered it, telling the media he “would make those decisions or start thinking about that” when the deadline comes mid-July, according to Andrew Crane of the New York Post.
He didn’t nearly seem optimistic that things would be handled by July 17. According to another report by Crane, when asked if the deal would be handled by then, he took a long pause before replying, “I don’t know really. I don’t know.” In fact, he even said that sitting out the 2023 NFL season was an option he could use as “a card (he) could play,” according to Pat Leonard of New York Daily News. It has become clear that this situation has the potential to turn ugly in New York as the two sides continue to negotiate at an impasse.
Barkley’s statement today wasn’t necessarily an announcement of an incoming holdout, though. It seemed to be more of an attempt to state his side of the story. He made sure to inform that he had no intention of resetting the running back market. He has reportedly turned down deals with annual average values of $12.5MM and $13MM. Only Alvin Kamara and Christian McCaffrey have contracts averaging more per year, but they are making $15MM and $16.02MM, respectively.
Barkley also used the media session as an opportunity to air some of his frustrations about the situation. He strongly implied that he felt disrespected by the organization throughout the contract standoff. He claimed that the team’s front office had been “misleading” with “untruthful” leaks that “make (him) look like (he’s) greedy.” He didn’t name general manager Joe Schoen, specifically, but Schoen was the one who publicly made known the above offers that were rejected.
Barkley has asserted that his feelings weren’t hurt by being tagged. He even understands that, in the harsh business world of the NFL, the Giants have all the leverage in negotiating. But the way the team’s front office has handled the situation seems to be rubbing him the wrong way. There doesn’t appear to be any irreparable damage, though. Much like the Lamar Jackson situation, it seems Barkley has been able to separate his business with the front office from the relationships with his teammates and coaches.
It’s unclear how much longer this will go on, but we now know it won’t be over by the opening of minicamp. Barkley is firmly standing his ground for what he feels he deserves. Whether or not that will preclude him from playing in the 2023 NFL season has yet to be determined.
Yeah. Sit out a year and do something else that fits your skill set that pays millions of dollars per year. After all, it worked well for Le’Veon Bell.
Release him & sign Dalvin Cook.
While I’d love for the Giants to sign Saquon to a multi year contract, I don’t think it’s gonna happen. The Giants after offering the contract during last years bye week, and at the end of this season saw the running back market take a drastic downturn. The average FA contracts signed this year are in the $6-7 million range. Now with the release of Cook, the Giants are not going to go 2X the amount to sign Barkley. Frankly he needs to read the room and realize that the offers made earlier were way above market value. In fact he should be happy with the tag money of $10.1 million. Should he sit out, he’ll never make that money back, and he knows it. Who’s going to sign an injury prone RB to a high value multi year contract at the age of 28 who also sat out a year? No one. Saquon, while yo feel you’re worth $14-$15 million a year for 4 years, your actual worth is market value. Right now your market value is in the range of $8 -$10 million per year.
I think your viewpoint is pretty solid except for the fact that the Giants totally ignored market value when they overpaid Leonard Williams. I think Barkley is more critical to the Giants having continued success.
That was Gettleman…fortunately he’s no longer running the show…
Well, Daniel Jones’s contract is the current front office’s doing and if he doesn’t have a weapon like Saquon Barkley out there, he’ll show why his contract was an overpay. They’re not going to drop his tag and pivot somewhere else because the top available RBs are not going to want to take less.
5 players (Williams, Jones, Jackson, Thomas, Barkley’s Tag) currently with 2023 Cap Charges of more than $10M. Only Jones has significant guaranteed salary, They have $3.8M in cap space. Not impossible to fit him, but definitely need some creativity if they want him bad enough.
@rock, as we don’t know the underwriting, from some NYC sports talk, its less about the AAV and more the guaranteed amount the contracts that were offered that has been the sticking point with him. As is clear of the RB role nowadays, I also can’t blame him for wanting to maximize his first and last legit contract opportunity. It does hurt more as a NYG fan that is actually a really good person and does a lot in the community. It’d be so easy to just say talk a walk to someone that was less appealing.
He should totally stick to his principles and sit out, refusing to play for a 1 year $10M tag contract. That way next season when he’s 27, he can sign a 1 year prove it deal for $5M and then be tossed onto the NFL pile of “too old” RB’s. Sure he’ll have lost at least $5M, but he’ll have his dignity.
Someone better tell him that RB is no longer a necessity in the NFL.
Barkley not only was the Giants’ leading rusher last season, he shared the team lead in receptions. Good dual-threat halfbacks are hard to come by in today’s NFL.
Well a person can only think that all the teams who have spent high first round draft picks are doing so well it’s amazing. Elliott, Barkley Jacobs, etc are just piling up the Lombardi’s at at a frightening clip. Makes you wonder the fate of the Falcons and Lions who jumped into the swamp. Sorry but I don’t see either of those teams hoisting Vince over their heads either. Well played.
They’ll hoist the Vince Guaraldi Charlie Brown Kickoff Trophy over their heads while lying on their backs.