The Giants and running back Saquon Barkley have less than five days left to make a long-term deal. While it’s unclear if they will have a final copy by Monday 4:00 PM ET, an effort was made to make this happen before the franchise tag was applied.
According to a league source familiar with the situation, the Giants have offered Barkley $13 million annually, including $26 million over the first two years. The offer was made before the deadline for application of the franchise tag, with an explicit message from the team that if the tag was applied to Barkley, the offer would be withdrawn. Barkley was after Christian McCaffrey’s money, we’re told; That’s roughly $16 million a year.
The Giants wanted to sign Barkley to a multi-year deal and apply the franchise tag to quarterback Daniel Jones. Instead they signed Jones and tagged Barkley — and they weren’t ready yet to put the $13 million a year bid back on Barkley’s table.
Barkley is worth more than the $10.1 million he’s set to make this year under the franchise bid, but he’s not worth it. The rules allowed the Giants to sit on the rights to Barkley for $10.1 million in 2023, and to keep him in 2024 in return for a 20 percent increase over his 2023 salary.
That’s just $22.22 million over two years.
Barkley is currently making noises about holding out in the regular season because he needs to muster any/some clout before Monday. After Monday, nothing he says or does can land him a long-term deal in 2023. At this point, the question becomes whether the Giants will offer more than the mark on a one-year deal, and/or whether the Giants will agree not to signal. to him again in 2024.
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