The Giants did not franchise tag Saquon Barkley a second straight year before Tuesday’s 4 p.m. NFL deadline, meaning the former No. 2 overall running back may have played his final game with the team.
GM Joe Schoen also did not tag free safety Xavier McKinney, who wants to stay in New York but told the Daily News that he didn’t want to be tagged. Now he has more time to negotiate an extension and the opportunity to hit the open market if he does not.
Barkley, 27, will be free to gauge his value on the open market for the first time in his career after six seasons with the franchise. The free agent negotiating window opens next Monday prior to the start of the new league year two days later, when deals can become official.
And while it’s still possible Barkley could return to the Giants after testing the waters, it’s more likely that he will be playing somewhere else in 2024.
Sources view the Baltimore Ravens, Las Vegas Raiders, Chicago Bears, New England Patriots, Houston Texans and Philadelphia Eagles as some primary potential suitors who have the resources, need and interest to possibly sign Barkley.
There is always the chance that Barkley won’t find the value he is seeking on the open market due to an impressive and deep free agent running back class headed by the Titans’ Derrick Henry, the Chargers’ Austin Ekeler, Barkley and the Raiders’ Josh Jacobs.
But numerous evaluators in Indianapolis at last week’s NFL Combine voiced the opinion that they consider Barkley to be a dynamic back. Some would love to see a team use him in the Christian McCaffrey mold, believing Barkley could serve in the same role.
So imagine Barkley lined up behind two-time MVP Lamar Jackson in Charm City, or paired with likely No. 1 overall QB pick Caleb Williams and top Bears receiver D.J. Moore in the Windy City.
Neither is far-fetched now.
Barkley loves New York and the Giants, but he wants to win and be compensated and deployed as a top offensive weapon. He understandably wants to be used more as a receiver in particular, a talent he believes was untapped recently in New York.
Schoen, meanwhile, is reticent to commit major money to a running back and is entering a pivotal third year in this regime’s build. They need to show progress.
The GM also is staring at a deep free agent RB market and an NFL Draft with some good value in the middle rounds.
Schoen mentioned Ekeler and two of his former Buffalo Bills draft picks as attractive available RBs: the Texans’ Devin Singletary and the Colts’ Zack Moss.
Oregon’s Bucky Irving and USC’s MarShawn Lloyd, meanwhile, could be good fits as middle-round picks in April. The Giants like Lloyd, and Irving is a tantalizing player.
Optically, Schoen also benefits from letting Barkley hit the market this spring even if he does end up staying in New York.
Last year’s negotiations got ugly. Barkley vented publicly that he wasn’t pleased with leaks and inaccurate reports about contract offers that he said didn’t come from him.
He switched agents from Roc Nation to CAA after receiving some bad advice to not accept one of Schoen’s earlier contract offers.
And edge rusher Kayvon Thibodeaux said early this offseason he thought Barkley should have been paid before quarterback Daniel Jones, after the QB landed a four-year, $160 million extension last spring but Barkley played on a one-year tag.
Schoen’s reluctance to use the tag on any player this year is probably a reaction in part to all the off-field anguish it caused the Giants and their locker room last summer. It wasn’t good for business.
“I’m not the one for tags,” McKinney said last week on the Talkin’ Ball with Pat Leonard podcast on the Bleav Network. “I don’t really get into it because, mentally, I believe in my worth and have been able to be a highly productive player, to put up really good numbers, to show that I am a top safety in this league. And I’ve been able to show that I am worth every penny of whatever I’ll get paid.
“But I’m not really into the whole tags, franchise tags, transition,” he added. “I don’t really know much about the transition tag anyways. But I don’t even wanna speak on it much, because I’m not even gonna put my energy [into] or entertain those things.”
McKinney, a two-time captain, finished 2023 as Pro Football Focus’ No. 1 safety in both coverage and tackling (No. 3 in tackling behind two part-timers who didn’t truly qualify) and as PFF’s No. 4 safety overall.
He wants to be paid as a top-5 safety, which would put him at or near the $16-19 million per year range. The Green Bay Packers are one of the teams that sources believe would pursue him if the Giants’ former 2020 second-round pick hits the market.
Barkley played last season on a revised franchise tag, rushing for 962 yards on 3.9 yards per carry and scoring 10 total touchdowns in 14 games. A second consecutive franchise tag would have put Barkley on a $12.1 million salary for 2024, a 20% raise from last year’s $10.1 million.
If this is the end of his Giants tenure, Barkley will leave the team that drafted him second overall in 2018 having recorded 5,211 rushing yards, 4.3 yards per carry, 2,100 receiving yards and 47 total touchdowns over six seasons.
Barkley burst onto the scene as a do-it-all weapon out of Penn State six years ago, leading the NFL with 2,028 scrimmage yards while scoring 15 touchdowns en route to Offensive Rookie of the Year and Pro Bowl honors in 2018.
Injuries repeatedly plagued the Bronx-born Barkley, however, including in 2020 when he suffered a season-ending ACL tear in the second game of the season in Chicago.
Barkley missed at least three games in four of his six seasons, including last year when a sprained ankle kept him out of Weeks 3 through 5.
He was the offensive catalyst of the Giants’ 2022 playoff berth as a Wild Card team, the franchise’s lone trip to the postseason since 2016. That included two touchdowns in a road playoff win over the Minnesota Vikings before the Giants were blown out by the Eagles in the divisional round.
That may end up being the furthest Barkley ever goes with the Giants. And Schoen would have to replace his top weapon quickly to field a competent offense in 2024.
— With Peter Sblendorio
