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Joe Schoen said he didn’t want to use the franchise tag when the offseason began.
Now, the New York Giants‘ general manager feels it’s inevitable.
Schoen told reporters at the NFL Annual League Meeting in Phoenix that “there’s no outstanding (contract) offer right now” for franchise-tagged running back Saquon Barkley. It’s a departure from Schoen’s February 28 comments made at the 2023 NFL Combine about hoping to avoid a Barkley-franchise tag pairing.
Things changed for Schoen and the Giants, though. He said the team retreated from its long-term negotiations with Barkley when the tag was applied on March 8. And Schoen said he’s comfortable letting their 1,300-yard rusher play the 2023 season out.
“Once we put the franchise tag on him, we stepped back,” Schoen told reporters. “We knew throughout the negotiation that there was going to be a time where, if we couldn’t come to an agreement, we were going to go to the franchise tag, and that’s what we did.”
Under the rules of the league’s collective bargaining agreement, the Giants have until July 15 to sign Barkley to a long-term deal. His current one-year tagged salary is a guaranteed $10.091 million, according to OverTheCap.
Here’s what else you need to know about the current state of negotiations between Barkley and Big Blue:
‘Still Hopeful’ Barkley and Giants Can Work It Out
Schoen hasn’t made progress with Barkley and quite yet.
But he said he’s in “constant contact” with the running back and his agents, despite moving on to “plan B.”
“There’s 53 players — you can’t look at everybody in a silo,” Schoen said. “As you’re going through negotiations and you can’t come to an agreement on what the value of a player is, then you have to shift to plan B.”
That’s no reflection on how the entire Giants organizations views Barkley as a player, either. Schoen told reporters “Saquon knows how I think about him.” And at the same league meeting, team owner John Mara expressed his hope to reporters that Barkley remains a Giant for life.”
“My dream is that he plays his whole career as a Giant like Eli (Manning) did, like (Michael) Strahan did, like Tiki (Barber) did,” Mara said. “I mentioned to him, ‘Look what they’re doing off the field now.’ I think he would like that as well.”
Mara listed Barkley’s best traits — skill, leadership, locker room presence — as reasons to make Barkley a Big Blue lifer. Yet even Mara admits “there is a limit to what (the Giants) can do” to speed that process along.
Said Mara: “I don’t think he’s thrilled about being tagged. But he’s a professional. He understands the business. You just go through these negotiations with your better players. It’s not the first time we’ve been through it. I’m still hopeful at some point we’ll be able to get something done.”
Barkley’s Value Set By Running Back Market?
Mara told reporters the demand for ballcarriers “is what it is right now.”
The current landscape for Barkley? “A soft running back market with more supply than demand, which has depressed prices around the league for players at that position,” according to ESPN’s Dan Graziano.
Put simply: Players at Barkley’s position aren’t receiving long-term commitments this offseason.
Like Barkley, Raiders running back Josh Jacobs and Cowboys running back Tony Pollard also received $10.091 million franchise tags. That’s a success story in this market; players like Leonard Fournette and Ezekiel Elliott weren’t even retained by their teams this offseason.
In fact, only seven running backs currently make more than the franchise tag number, according to Spotrac: New Orleans’ Alvin Kamara, San Francisco’s Christian McCaffrey, Minnesota’s Dalvin Cook, Tennessee’s Derrick Henry, Cincinnati’s Joe Mixon, Green Bay’s Aaron Jones, and Cleveland’s Nick Chubb.
Miles Sanders is eighth on that list. He just signed a four-year deal with an average annual value (AAV) of $6.25 million, per Spotrac. And the Lions paid David Montgomery a three-year deal deal with a $6 million AAV.
Those two players aren’t in the same class as Barkley. But those contracts come in far cheaper than the $10.091 million Barkley’s getting — or the reported $12 million AAV that FOX Sports’ Ralph Vacchiano reported Barkley turned down during the Giants’ 2022 bye week.
… Barkley was offered around $12M/season during the bye week, per sources, and Schoen said they weren’t close in value. Barkley said yesterday he didn’t necessarily want to set the market, though I continue to hear he wants near Christian Mcaffrey’s $16M average. …
Schoen admitted the franchise tag was his pocket ace. Barkley is an absolute difference-maker, but while the two sides remain far apart on a new contract, he’ll still be under club control.
“We knew we had the franchise tag as a tool,” Schoen said. “And we’ll utilize that — (and) see if anything happens down the road.”
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Giants GM Provides Update on Saquon Barkley Negotiations