Let's be honest: the moment the New York Giants decided they weren't going to franchise tag Saquon Barkley, you pretty much knew his days as a Giant were numbered. If Joe Schoen didn't think he was worth $11.95 million - the limit the NFL allows for a running back on a franchise tag in 2024 - that was his way of saying "we're done here."
I don't begrudge Barkley from signing elsewhere; the man has a right to get paid what he thinks he's worth. Though I have to wonder if choosing the Philadelphia Eagles was his way of saying to Schoen, "Fuck you, too."
And I also think it's rather juvenile of some - not all - Giants fans to say things like "You're dead to me." Knock it off. The guy left the team; he didn't burn the flag or something. This is a business. Players leave one team for another all the time. If teams can do it, why can't players?
What I am going to take issue with is this notion that Barkley never got the multi-year offer from the Giants he was looking for. The people who are spreading that bullshit, especially on ESPN, need to stop it immediately. The fact is, Barkley received a very fair and lucrative contract offer from the Giants in January of 2023. It was a three-year deal for $36 million, with $22 million guaranteed. Barkley, his agent, or both turned it down. Hence, the Giants slapped the franchise tag on him so they wouldn't lose him in free agency.
Given that the Eagles signed Barkley to a three-year $37.7 million contract with $26 million guaranteed, basically the all-pro running back travelled 95 miles down the Jersey Turnpike for a lousy $1.7 million over three years and an additional $4 million in guaranteed money. If you're going to skewer Schoen for how he handled this situation, it's more than fair to hold Barkley to the same standard. Why didn't he sign the contract offer in '23? Had he done so, he'd be entering year two of that contract.
Unless, of course, Barkley wasn't exactly sure he wanted to stay a Giant and was keeping his options open. Think about it. A very successful, and equally surprising, 2022 season, which resulted in a playoff berth and a playoff win; the first since 2011. Everything that could've gone their way, did. We often hear how front offices have a bead on whether their teams overachieved or not, and what that means for their long-term strategy.
Why can't players do the same thing? It's unfathomable to me that a man as savvy as Barkley, who insisted he wanted to retire a Giant, would pass up an opportunity to sign a three-year extension, knowing full well it would force the Giants hand. Unless that was his plan all along. Reject the offer, sign the franchise tag, see what kind of season the Giants had in '23, and if things fell apart, which they did, jump ship.
Sound too conspiratorial for you? Yeah, me too. But it's better than the alternative, which is that a very talented running back got some very bad advice from an inept agent, and that eventually led to him leaving the team that drafted him.
Sometimes the simplest answers are the ones right under our noses.
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