New York Giants running back Saquon Barkley shocked everyone when he agreed to a contract hours before the team was set to open training camp. The two sides agreed to a one-year deal worth $10.1 million with incentives that could push Saquon Barkley’s earnings to $11 million.
After a long-term agreement could not be worked out ahead of the July 17th deadline, Saquon Barkley’s attendance at training camp was in question. By all indications, he wasn’t going to report and there were rumors swirling that he could miss regular season games.
But, those distractions have now gone by the wayside since the star running back has signed a deal and is in camp with his teammates. He knew in his heart that was what he wanted to do despite many people likely disagreeing with his decision.
While it is certainly a positive that a deal was agreed upon, there were certainly some hard feelings created during the negotiations. Saquon Barkley said it would be a ‘flat-out lie” if he said anything other than he was disappointed in how negotiations went down.
Saquon Barkley knew that his leverage was nonexistent, which is why he signed the deal at the start of training camp instead of holding out; his position was never going to improve. So, instead of creating distractions for his team, he agreed to a deal and reported on time.
“It didn’t happen because, one, just being flat-out honest, the tag,” he said. “That’s the leverage that they have. I think if I wasn’t able to get tagged, I do think the negotiating process would have went a lot different. I think I would have had a lot more leverage in my way. But like I said publicly … there’s a lot of sources, a lot of he say, she say. I said I wasn’t trying to reset the running back market. I said I wanted something that is respectable. I don’t want to use the word fair because as I’m sitting here in New York (with) 20, 30 cameras on me, I’m also talking to fans, and there’s a lot of people that are, where I come from, don’t have a lot of money, and we’re talking about $10 to 11 million. That’s a lot of money. So I don’t want to say something that’s fair. I want to say something that’s respectable. And if I felt like if it was something respectable, I would’ve took it. I looked at my mom, my dad, within my team and through my family, and I didn’t agree with it. I didn’t take it.”
The leaking of contract discussions earlier in the offseason was something that ticked off Saquon Barkley. Numbers were shared about the contracts that he reportedly turned down. Even after seeing how things played out, he wouldn’t have accepted the deal offered before the franchise tag was placed on him, saying it didn’t make sense.
While the Giants and Saquon Barkley could be back in this position last season, that wouldn’t necessarily be the worst thing. It would mean that the star running back stayed healthy and had another big season, helping Big Blue find success on the field.
