The Giants clinched their first playoff berth since 2016 this afternoon, as their surprisingly successful campaign continues. Much of the team’s performance has been attributed to new head coach Brian Daboll, but two key starters on offense have been integral as well.

Quarterback Daniel Jones and running back Saquon Barkley entered this season with varying levels of expectation and plenty of uncertainty given their statuses as pending free agents. Updates throughout the season have illustrated the team’s priorities with respect to which (if not both) players will be targeted for deals keeping them in New York through 2023. Both long-term contracts and a franchise tag are on the table, and the team’s move with one will no doubt heavily impact their actions with the other.

Providing the latest update on the situation, NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reports that the Giants see both players as franchise contributors for 2023 “and beyond” (video link). As such, he adds, they will look to get deals done with each of them, though the presence of the franchise tag likely makes multi-year deals for both of them a stretch. Rapoport also notes, unsurprisingly, that New York will have a price point which they will not exceed during upcoming negotiations.

The Giants’ new regime under Daboll and GM Joe Schoen reportedly doubted the upside Jones would provide if he were to be retained as a long-term solution under center at the start of the campaign. The former sixth overall pick has gone on to have a career-year in spite of an injury-riddled, talent-deprived pass-catching corps surrounding him, however. His signs of improvement made it noteworthy when no contract talks were held during the team’s bye week. His continued impressive play makes the Duke product an interesting case study in how the organization will handle their first two major negotiations since the coaching and front office changes.

As for Barkley, the situation has been notably different on a number of levels given his undisputed talent and production when healthy. With the Giants believing his injury issues are behind him, he was involved in bye week extension talks. Given his position, the former second overall pick would be a more logical tag candidate than Jones; the one-year pacts are projected to carry a difference of roughly $22MM next year. However, New York has reportedly been willing to commit to a big-ticket second contract with Barkley, who entered today ranked fourth in the league with 1,254 rushing yards.

Jones and Barkley will be significant factors in any postseason success the Giants have this year, as the team continues to weigh its options on how they handle this situation. Regardless of the outcome, their intention of keeping both in the fold for at least the short- and intermediate-term future is clear.

The Giants and quarterback Daniel Jones did not engage in extension discussions prior to GM Joe Schoen‘s self-imposed Week 10 deadline to talk contract, as Jordan Raanan of ESPN.com writes. So, as expected, the contract situations of Jones and running back Saquon Barkley — both of whom are eligible for unrestricted free agency in March — will be atop Schoen’s agenda this offseason.

Interestingly, Schoen did engage in extension negotiations with Barkley and defensive back Julian Love during New York’s Week 9 bye, and while those conversations did not lead to a new deal for either player, it is notable that Giants brass did not at least check in with Jones’ camp. That is especially true in light of September reports that Schoen and first-year head coach Brian Daboll harbored “major concerns” about Jones’ viability as a long-term option.

Since those earlier reports, New York has gone 6-4, and Jones has performed much better under Daboll than he did during his first three years in the league. Still, as Raanan acknowledges, there is a difference between being a legitimate NFL starter and being a franchise cornerstone, and it is unclear if Jones’ improved play in 2022 has been enough to convince the team that he is worthy of a lengthy accord.

Indeed, Jones has not played especially well over the last two games, both of which resulted in losses that have threatened to sour a pleasantly-surprising season. On the other hand, his 58.5 QBR — supported by a 10:4 TD:INT ratio and 64.6% completion percentage — is the 10th-best mark in the NFL. He has already set career-highs with 451 rushing yards and four rushing scores, and he has compiled those numbers on a strong 5.7 YPC rate. He has also led four fourth-quarter comebacks this season, and the team’s dearth of receiving talent has made his work more impressive.

One NFC general manager tells Raanan that the Giants’ best option would be to re-sign Jones this offseason, but a different NFC exec says he does not see Jones as a franchise player. Yet another NFC exec sees Jones as a bridge option and believes a one-year, $15MM-$20MM deal would make the most sense for the Giants. However, former GM Mike Tannenbaum thinks Jones is an “ascending player” who can reasonably expect a multi-year deal worth ~$25MM/year, especially given the supply-and-demand dynamics of the QB market that benefit even flawed signal-callers.

Whether Schoen is willing to pay Jones that type of money remains to be seen, and his decision may be impacted (to some degree) by Barkley’s situation. Former NFL agent Joel Corry projects the franchise tag for RBs to come in at roughly $10.1MM, which is a better number than the ~$12MM projections that have been floated and which is much more appealing than the projected ~$31.5MM franchise tag figure for QBs (via Dan Duggan of The Athletic on Twitter).

That said, the Giants are reportedly willing to pony up a top-of-the-market contract for Barkley, and Ryan Dunleavy of the New York Post says talks between player and team were encouraging. Perhaps a multi-year contract for Barkley — which will allow the team to smooth out his 2023 cap hit — coupled with a tag for Jones will be the most satisfactory result for all parties involved.

Saquon Barkley‘s comeback season features the former Offensive Rookie of the Year sitting second in rushing yards as the Giants hit their bye week. The injury-prone running back has worked his way back onto the extension radar, and the Giants’ new regime appears onboard with a second Barkley contract.

After listening on Barkley trade interest this offseason, Giants GM Joe Schoen has spoken to the fifth-year running back about an extension.

“Saquon and I have a great relationship. I told him I’d like him to be here, and I think he’s in the same boat,” Schoen said during an appearance on WFAN’s Tiki & Tierney. “We’ll see if we can work something out here at some point.

“He’s a guy we’re gonna do our due diligence on. We’d like to keep him around here. We can get into the contract extension talks … decide a value for the player, where we see him and why, and then knowing we have the franchise tag as a tool in the toolbox.”

A Barkley extension emerged as a possibility last year, when the regime that drafted him was still at the controls, but died down after the Penn State product went down with an early-season ankle injury. Barkley did not establish much momentum in the weeks that followed, though just about no Giant did in a miserable finish to the 2021 campaign, and no extension buzz surfaced this offseason. Barkley, 25, was more closely connected to being moved.

We explored the prospect of a Barkley extension in September, but now that the former No. 2 overall pick has submitted more evidence of being back to his pre-ACL-tear version, the floor for an extension looks to have risen. Barkley sits second behind Nick Chubb in rushing yards (779) and ranks behind only Tyreek Hill in scrimmage yards (986). Then again, the running back market has not moved in a while. Christian McCaffrey, Alvin Kamara and Ezekiel Elliott still reside atop this position group, AAV-wise, on deals from 2020 (CMC, Kamara) and 2019 (Zeke). Those big-money extensions — at or north of $15MM per year — have generated mixed returns as well.

Barkley’s value to the Giants, a stalled running back market, a crowded backfield class headed toward free agency and the salary cap disparity between 2020 ($198.2MM) and 2023 (perhaps north of $220MM) complicate a potential deal. So does Barkley’s injury history, which hovers over the rest of the dynamic back’s season as well. But if Schoen is correct in noting Barkley wants to stay in New York as well, the process could be easier.

If the Giants were to tag Barkley, it would not be too expensive. Last year, the running back tag came in at just $9.57MM. After battling through cap trouble this offseason, Big Blue’s new regime is projected to have at least $60MM in funds next year. Barkley is playing on a $7.23MM fifth-year option, but unlike most running backs, he came into the league with a monster payday. With the fifth-year option added to his bank account, Barkley will move beyond $38MM in career earnings at season’s end.

Daniel Jones‘ status could conceivably interfere with a Barkley tag, however. While both the franchise and transition tags are available to teams, only one can be used per offseason. Jones has been mentioned as a candidate for the seldom-used transition tag, which locks in a lesser amount but gives other teams more flexibility to negotiate with the player. Schoen said (via The Athletic’s Dan Duggan) the fourth-year quarterback is still being evaluated. A QB transition tag, projected at roughly $28MM, would be much more expensive than a running back franchise tag.

Jones’ improved play, with a bottom-tier receiving corps, further stands to complicate the Giants’ 2023 offseason. While Schoen is open to negotiating with players this week, Duggan adds, he does not wish to do so once the Giants’ bye wraps. That would table the Barkley and Jones matters to January. Two players who looked to be on the way out with the organization are suddenly back in the long-term picture, injecting more intrigue into the surprising team’s status.