Giants’ Saquon Barkley Contract Negotiations Take Surprising Turn

Getty Images Will the Giants strike an agreement with star running back Saquon Barkley?

Days after New York Giants running back Saquon Barkley revealed he’s considering holding out the entire 2023 season rather than sign his franchise tag, the organization reportedly has done an about face in the negotiations.

According to a report from Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network, the Giants have re-offered the proposal the team had made prior to applying the franchise tag to Barkley back in March.

If nothing else, the Giants offering Barkley the same deal that was on the table prior to quarterback Daniel Jones signing his long-term extension shows that the lines of communication remain open.

Barkley skipped the Giants’ OTAs and offseason program this spring, and is absent from the team’s mandatory minicamp, as he has yet to sign the franchise tag. The deadline for Barkley to either sign the tag or the sides to come to terms on a long-term contract is July 17.

This season, the franchise tag for running backs pays $10.09 million, which would be fully guaranteed for Barkley, but with no long-term security beyond the 2023 campaign.

“Me getting tagged, was I upset about it? Nobody wants to get tagged,” Barkley told reporters at his annual youth football camp. “To sit here and say I was frustrated, I was mad, I was upset, what really got me upset was the stories that got leaked out and how misleading they were and how untruthful they were.”

Inside the league, the belief is that the Giants and Barkley ultimately reach an accord.

“I really think Barkley’s situation is just haggling,” an NFC Executive told Heavy, on the condition of anonymity to speak freely about another team. “And it will ultimately be resolved over the summer.”

How Saquon Barkley’s Offer Stacks Up

According to a prior report from NJ Advance Media, the Giants originally offered Barkley $13 million with an additional $1 million in incentives that could push the total value of the deal to $14 million annually.

Barkley suggested that prior leaked contract details were inaccurate, during an appearance at his youth camp, but if the 26-year-old truly isn’t attempting to reset the running back market, the offer on the surface appears to be one that could thread the needle for both sides.

If Barkley would hit the incentives to push the value of the contract to $14 million APY, he would collect approximately $56 million, which would make him the third-highest paid running back in the NFL, behind only Alvin Kamara and Christian McCaffrey.

Barkley has repeatedly throughout his career stressed his desire to remain with the Giants, and the organization clearly values his contributions to the offense and as a face of the franchise off the field. Whether Barkley agrees that the offer the Giants made is representative of those contributions remains to be seen.

But, based on the position Barkley plays and the way it is viewed around the league, it isn’t difficult to see why the Giants came in at a number that doesn’t reset the entire market.

Why Saquon Barkley’s Contract Negotiations are Complicated

Barkley and the Giants have reached this juncture at a time when the running back position has been significantly devalued across the league, underscored by Dalvin Cook being released by the Minnesota Vikings at age 27, despite rushing for 1,173 yards with 8 touchdowns last season.

Likewise, Barkley is coming off a career-season in 2022, rushing for a career-best 1,312 yards with 10 touchdowns and adding 57 catches for 338 yards. Those impressive numbers came during a season in which Barkley eased any concerns about the lingering effects of a 2020 torn ACL and 2021 high-ankle sprain that had slowed him.

But, the Giants may be inclined to follow the trend of mitigating injury risk at the position by not paying based on past performance.

“Precedent sets the market,” Giants assistant general manager Brandon Brown told reporters. “And that’s something we don’t control. We don’t. What we do is we try to forecast and react. So that’s what we’ve done and the market is the market, but precedent dictates where it sits.”

Those concerns have to be weighed against Barkley’s significant impact on the offense, and his dominance down the stretch, including a two-touchdown effort in the franchise’s first postseason win since 2011.