Saquon Barkley Contract Negotiations Continue… Will He And The Giants Reach A Agreement?

For Months contract negotiations have been going on between the Giants and Saquon Barkley. The 2 sides haven’t been able to reach a deal which led to the Giants placing the 10 million dollar franchise tag on him. But why haven’t the two sides been able to come to an agreement?

Well, Barkley has dealt with his share of injury problems throughout the first 4 years of his career, including one that put him out for 14 games in 2020. But, it’s a tricky situation because although he hasn’t been healthy 100% of the time, when he has been healthy he has been the best player on the field for the Giants. He is also coming off his best year as a rusher putting up over 1,300 yards, a massive “prove it” year for Barkley.

Earlier in the offseason  The Giants extended QB Daniel Jones to a 4 year, 160 million dollar deal. Personally, I believe this was a bit of an overpay; Daniel Jones was a liability for the first 3 years of his career, then Brian Daboll stepped in and centered the offense around the play-action and all of a sudden, Jones had a decent year. Jones is nothing better than a solid to game-manager type of QB. Saquon Barkley is the offense firepower to this team and he is the one who deserves the contract extension, and now that they have extended Jones, they won’t have the money to afford both Jones and Barkley on long term deals.

Across the league, it seems like running backs might be the most replaceable position in football. Although Barkley is very productive, you could just as easily manage to find a gem in the later portion of the draft on a much cheaper deal, similar to The Texans and Dameon Pierce. Furthermore, a lot of the time Running backs aren’t responsible for their own success, they are reliant on the opportunities given to them by the offensive scheme and the blocking of their offensive line. However, Barkley was able to produce when he O-line was one of the worst in the league during his rookie year. Running backs like Saquon Barkley only come around once in a blue moon and it would be a shame if The Giants had to let go of a talent like him over a contract dispute.

By July 17th if the two sides don’t come to a long term agreement, Saquon Barkley will have to decide if he wants to play under the franchise tag or not. This contract dispute is very similar to the one going on in Vegas with RB Josh Jacobs. In the 2022 off-season the raiders declined to pick up Josh Jacobs fifth year option. He used this a fuel to his fire and went out in the 2022 season and had the best year of his career, finishing as the NFL’s leading rusher with over 1600 yards on the ground. Despite this, the Raiders are letting contract negotiations with Jacobs linger. He is yet to sign on the franchise tag, clearly wanting a long term deal. And now there is a possibility that 2 of the top running backs in the league could sit out for the 2023 NFL Season.