While there has been media and fan obsession throughout the offseason over whether or not Saquon Barkley would return to the New York Giants, Barkley said the Giants “really weren’t in play” as a possible landing spot.
Barkley told The Athletic’s Dianna Russini on the “Scoop City” podcast that the Giants were not one of three teams he considered signing with this offseason.
“They weren’t really into it, I guess you could say they came to find out and see the reality,” Barkley told Russini. “When you watch ‘Hard Knocks,’ you get the impression that it was something that happened every day, but it wasn’t.”
“Hard Knocks did a really good job. It looks juicy, it looks like there could have been something and they (the Giants) were able to pull away at the last second. In fact, the whole time, my agent and I were talking on our end like we didn’t even think the Giants were going to do anything.”
‘Be fed up’
Barkley told Russini that prior to the phone call aired on “Hard Knocks” between him and general manager Joe Schoen, he had spoken to the Giants only once during the offseason.
Barkley knew some thought his tone on the call betrayed a lack of interest. He said, “That’s how I talk,” and that he “didn’t want to come across as begging.”
“I was kind of fed up, to be honest, because we talked after the season. They were like, ‘Do you still want to be a Giant?’ And I said I already said where I wanted to be, like I said on the phone. They said we’re going to figure it out, we’re going to make it work, we’re going to talk to your agent. Then they said at the combine, they talked to my agent, they said we’re going to have a deal, we’re going to have something ready for you, and then they found out they didn’t want to send me an offer because they wanted to be disrespectful or like Joe said in that episode or that scene, and then the phone call when it was a little weird for me,” Barkley said.
“I felt like the only way the Giants would sign me was if I could show somebody my work, if I could prove that a team would want to pay me, then maybe they would want to pay me.”
The Barkley/Giants contract saga of course began after the 2022 season.
“I never felt like we really had a fair negotiation once I got tagged,” Barkley said. “They sent me something before the tag deadline and I didn’t agree with it, I felt like the guaranteed money wasn’t there. All I asked was if I was okay with this deal, if we could just guarantee the first two years. They tagged me and I told them I already knew how it was going to go. Joe said, ‘I’ll talk to the owners, we’ll get back to you, and that’s it.’”
“I understand the business but it’s like they have the tag, so when they tag me now, they have all the power and it’s just like okay, I understand you have all the power and you should do this, you do your job but at the end of the day, can I have some respect too? Can we move this forward, can we find a way, the same way you found a way to get DJ (Daniel Jones) eliminated, like you were able to get Dex (Dexter Lawrence) and Andrew (Thomas) eliminated, can we find a way to get me eliminated?”
Barkley said he “never felt like he (Schoen) really valued my position and that’s OK.”
“You look at the pot and you see they have to get the offensive linemen and that and it’s like, looking at the Giants, it’s more important to go out there and get three offensive linemen or spend that money or get one or maybe two and try to spend it on what you want, what you value,” Barkley said. “I don’t think the New York Giants are San Francisco or Philly or Houston or some of those teams where they might be one running back or one key player away from taking the next step, and if that’s what they believed in and they chose to do it, then I’m fine with that. All I asked for was my chance to go out there and get the most money possible and they gave it to me.”
Testing Free Agency
Barkley said he bet on himself and “came out on top in that scenario.” However, when free agency began, he wasn’t sure what he would find.
“I was also nervous, knowing that I had just been tagged the year before on the open market. Obviously, I wasn’t tagged, everyone was saying this and that about the running back market, nobody really knew where it was going to go, but I’m grateful to my agent Ed (Berry) and my team for keeping me calm and collected, telling me not to worry, we’re going to make this work, we’re going to do it right, and then I realized when I hit the open market, what I thought was going to happen was actually going to happen,” Barkley said.
“I feel like the Giants thought I was going to go out there and get nine (million), maybe eight, stretch to 10 and then I’ll come back to them and say, ‘OK, we got you if you want to come play nine, you come play nine,’ which I think would have really done the trick. I think that’s just where they valued me or Joe valued me. He had a price he was willing to pay and he wasn’t going to go over and you know, kudos to him for sticking with his gut, but yeah, that’s how I feel and I felt like it was a little disrespectful, to be honest. It’s kind of a slap in the face, but you’re going to see what you’re worth and then if you’re worth that, we’ll see if you’re worth it, maybe we’ll match it.”
Barkley ended up receiving $12.5 million per year over three years from the Philadelphia Eagles, with $26 million guaranteed.
Go forward
Barkley admitted it “hurt” him to leave the Giants.
“I thought it was going to suck, it was going to hurt. I wanted to do this and that’s why it hurt because I’m the type of player or person that imagines things like being a part of New York and being successful and being a part of this organization, and I’m happy that I did it, so that’s where I was like, okay this is coming to an end but at the end of the day I’m not retiring, my career wasn’t, I still have a lot of things to do, so I was like okay, you put this chapter aside and you’re grateful for this chapter and you move on.”
Barkley wouldn’t reveal which other teams he was considering, but said signing with the Eagles was “a no-brainer.”
“I feel like this is going to be the best chance for me to succeed as a player, to succeed in my career and to succeed as a team,” Barkley said. “The biggest thing is where I can go as a team to feel like I can actually help a team get to the next level where they’re trying to go, and that was Philly.”
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