Saquon Barkley’s future with the Giants is up in the air again.
Barkley will not sign his franchise tag and will not be able to participate in the Giants’ offseason program, which begins on Monday, according to Newsday’s Kim Jones. The Giants placed the franchise tag on Barkley in March and it is worth one-year, $10.09 million.
This is just the latest twist in the saga between the Giants’ running back and the franchise. The team has been negotiating a new deal dating back to the team’s bye week when the two sides couldn’t come to an agreement.
And the door has been opened for Barkley to possibly hold out of training camp when it opens over the summer. Keeping Barkley under contract long-term has been the Giants’ preferred outcome all along and owner John Mara told reporters during the league meeting last month that he hoped Barkley would remain with the team for his entire career.
“We had a very good conversation,” Mara told reporters in Arizona. “I told him how much I wanted him here, wanted him to be a Giant. My dream is that he play his whole career as a Giant like Eli (Manning) did, like (Michael) Strahan did, like Tiki (Barbra) did. And I mentioned to him: Look what they’re doing off the field now. I think he would like that as well.”
Barkley, 26, had expressed his desire to avoid being franchise tagged after the season had ended. There was some concern that the Giants wouldn’t be able to keep Barkley because of the cap constraints and the negotiations between quarterback Daniel Jones and the team.
After New York locked up Jones to a long-term deal in March, general manager Joe Schoen opted to use the non-exclusive tag on Barkley. The running back can negotiate with other teams, but the Giants would have the ability to match the offer.
The window to sign Barkley to a long-term deal closes in July.
Barkley is coming off a year in which he appeared in every regular season game for the Giants for the first time since his rookie year. He was named AP Comeback Player of the Year and had a career-best 1,312 yards and scored 10 touchdowns.
He also had 57 receptions for 338 yards.
