Giants Country

ESPN Offers Suggestions on How Giants Should Handle Saquon Barkley Contract Talks

And yes, there's an outrageous suggestion in the mix.

Patricia Traina

ESPN Offers Suggestions on How Giants Should Handle Saquon Barkley Contract Talks
ESPN Offers Suggestions on How Giants Should Handle Saquon Barkley Contract Talks /
In this story:

NFL training camps are still a little more than two weeks from opening, which means until then, there are bound to be off-the-wall suggestions made by national pundits about what teams like the New York Giants should do.

And in its latest installment, ESPN’s Dan Graziano has, as part of his survey of league executives who weighed in with solutions for the Giants regarding franchise-tagged running back Saquon Barkley, a suggested “power move” as one of the options.

Rescind the franchise tag before the July 17 deadline, and sign a free agent, such as former Dallas Cowboys rusher Zeke Elliott.

Yeah, this again.

With all apologies to whichever league executive(s) suggested this move, it’s not happening. You can start with the fact that money around the league has dried up, and it wouldn’t be fair to Barkley, who is seeking a lucrative deal showing him respect, to have to go somewhere else at this stage on a deal likely to pay him far less than the $10.1 million the franchise tag offers.

But there is also the message such a move would send to the locker room, where general manager Joe Schoen and head coach Brian Daboll have carefully tried to repair a fractured culture. How bad would it look to their players and those around the league if the Giants nuked the tag now?

Really bad, which is why it’s not happening, and why Graziano emphasized this several times in his article.

So what is happening? Talks between the Giants and Barkley’s agent, Kim Miale, should be heating up this week as the clock ticks down. Both sides have been very vocal about their desire to remain with one another for multiple years. 

Although Barkley wasn’t happy with the leaks about his earlier negotiations with the team, he still works out with teammates and speaks favorably of the organization when asked--all signs that he's planning to be a part of the team this fall.

RELATED ARTICLES

The running back market being what it is, if the Giants put an offer on the table similar to the reported $14 million APY that Barkley rejected before the start of free agency, Barkley needs to take it and not second guess it.

While $10.1 million guaranteed is nice money, Barkley would be taking a huge gamble playing on the franchise tag given his injury history and the likelihood of him getting banged up, potentially affecting his future earnings.

Barkley and his agent likely know this, but for the sake of optics, they won’t “settle” for any offers until the 11th hour, lest it look like they gave in and left money on the table.

But what happens if a deal doesn’t get done and Barkley digs his heels in? Would he hold out, as Graziano suggests could be the case?

He could, but what would that prove at that point? Barkley likely isn’t going to play much in the preseason games anyway. Hence, the excuse of protecting him from possible injury is a lame one—he could just as easily get injured working out on his own, whereby he’d likely get slapped with an NFI designation (which would allow the Giants to withhold money in that case). Not that anyone wants to see Barkley hurt, but if that were to happen, he’d be better off getting hurt at an organized team activity to protect his interest.

But to get back to the original point, the Giants aren’t going to go nuclear on this situation by pulling the tag, not with the optics involved. But they’re also not going to cave in and overpay Barkley just to soothe any hurt feelings he might have because doing so is a risk when it comes to a running back, no matter how valuable the player has been for the franchise.

Published
Patricia Traina
PATRICIA TRAINA

Patricia Traina has covered the New York Giants for 30+ seasons, and her work has appeared in multiple media outlets, including The Athletic, Forbes, Bleacher Report, and the Sports Illustrated media group. As a credentialed New York Giants press corps member, Patricia has also covered five Super Bowls (three featuring the Giants), the annual NFL draft, and the NFL Scouting Combine. She is the author of The Big 50: The Men and Moments that Made the New York Giants. In addition to her work with New York Giants On SI, Patricia hosts the Locked On Giants podcast. Patricia is also a member of the Pro Football Writers of America and the Football Writers Association of America.

Home/Big Blue+