The New York Giants and Saquon Barkley were unable to come to a long-term contract agreement earlier this week, which has left his future in limbo. Monday, July 17th at 4 p.m. ET was the deadline for franchise-tagged players to sign a long-term deal. If no deal was reached, negotiations couldn’t occur again until after the season.
That is the position that the Giants and Saquon Barkley are now in as the sides didn’t get a deal done. It has already been reported that the star running back will not be showing up to training camp when it opens, as he is yet to sign his franchise tag tender, either.
When Saquon Barkley will show up is anyone’s guess. He has no leverage other than sitting out and missing time, which is certainly a risky thing to do. Alas, that is something that is certainly on the table.
In an interview with the Money Matters Podcast, which was released on Monday, Saquon Barkley revealed some scenarios that could unfold if a deal wasn’t reached. One of them was sitting out games at the start of the 2023 season, if not missing the season entirely.
“My leverage is I could say, ‘f— you’ to the Giants, I could say, ‘f— you to my teammates,'” Barkley said. “And be like, ‘You want me to show you my worth? You want me to show you how valuable I am to the team? I won’t show up. I won’t play a down.’ And that’s a play I could use.” (H/T Michael Baca of NFL.com)
There is quite literally nothing else that a franchise-tagged player can do. Zero leverage exists outside of just threatening to sit out, which obviously didn’t help Saquon Barkley in his negotiations with the team as he remains without a long-term deal.
He is not expected to be among the veterans who report to training camp on July 25th as he is going to miss some practice time. While the threat of missing games is on the table, Saquon Barkley admits that isn’t something he wants to do.
“Anybody who knows me knows that’s not something I want to do,” Barkley said of possibly missing games. “But is it something that crossed my mind, I never thought I would ever do that. But now I’m at a point where it’s like, ‘Jesus, I might have to take it to this level.’ Am I prepared and willing to take it to the level. I don’t know. That’s something I gotta sit down. I gotta sit down and talk to my family. I gotta sit down and talk to my team, gotta really strategize about this. Can’t just go off emotions. I can try to get as much money as I can, but what really matters is winning. I know if I’m able to bring a championship to New York, that’s going to go miles more ahead than this contract.”
This is something to certainly keep an eye on as Saquon Barkley is the most important player on the Giants’ offense. Without him, quarterback Daniel Jones has played at a well below subpar level with his numbers plummeting across the board and having more turnovers than touchdowns.
The running back market has been crushed this offseason as teams are collectively making a decision not to pay players at the position. It has left the Giants in a tough spot, as they are hoping that Saquon Barkley will report to the team sooner than later.
