NEWSLETTER
The theme of the weekend in the NFL — running backs fighting for what they feel they’re worth — continued on Sunday evening. At his youth football camp, New York Giants running back Saquon Barkley said that he won’t attend the Giants’ mandatory minicamp this week. Barkley remains without an extension and has yet to sign the franchise tender the Giants placed on him in March.
Barkley strongly denies any effort to become the highest-paid player in his position, and this is worth emphasizing.. Nevertheless, it appears that there has been some misinterpretation in the media regarding this matter.
Here’s what we now to this point, according to Barkley, the Giants, and reports by local reporters:
In November, Barkley turned down a $12 million yearly offer during the Giants’ bye week. In February, ESPN’s Jordan Raanan reported that “the belief is if the two sides meet at $14 million per year, a deal could get done, a source close to the negotiations told ESPN recently.” According to multiple reports, the Giants even upped their offer to Barkley to $13 million per year after the season, putting them even closer to the sweet spot, according to Raanan’s sources.
However, according to Giants GM Joe Schoen, that $12 million offer doesn’t exist anymore. Schoen said in late March that anything they offered Saquon Barkley before the tag is no longer on the table.
Despite that, Barkley says that the two sides have been in talks throughout the offseason. Still, we have no deal, and it doesn’t seem like it’s close. Barkley has only a month left to secure a long-term deal before the 2023 season deadline. Frankly, I find it unlikely that such a deal will come to fruition. The deadline to agree on an extension before Barkley plays on the franchise tag is July 17.
In this morning’s bullets, we discussed Josh Jacobs‘ situation with the Raiders. We also touched on Dalvin Cook’s free agency.
