Saquon Barkley said Sunday that sitting out the 2023 NFL season would be an option to discuss if he and the Giants don’t agree to a contract extension by the July 17 deadline.
“I think that’s a conversation, like you said, that’s a card I could play,” Barkley said after hosting a kids’ football camp with AMPT Events at Caven Point Field in Jersey City. “That comes up in conversation if something doesn’t get done by July 17. And we got a little bit of time in between there. So when that date comes up, then I’ll have to sit down with my team and my family and make decisions, see what we’re gonna do, what’s the game plan, what’s the next move.”
Barkley, 26, wasn’t here to announce a holdout, though. He couldn’t even say if he was optimistic if he’d reach a deal with the Giants before mid-July.
“I don’t know,” he said. “I don’t know.”
What Barkley wanted to put on the record, however, were his frustrations with the Giants front office for “misleading” and “untruthful” leaks about his ongoing contract standoff with the team that “tried to make me look like I’m greedy.”
“It’s all about respect,” he said. “That’s really what it is.”
Barkley didn’t use Joe Schoen’s name, but his answers strongly implied he was directing his ire at the club’s GM.
“We say ‘family business is family business’ in that facility, in that building, and I’m gonna stick to that,” Barkley said. “The thing I’m frustrated most about is, like how I said ‘family business is family business,’ and then sources come out and stories get leaked, and it didn’t come from me … I feel like it’s trying to paint a narrative of me, a picture of me that’s not even the truth. It’s not even close to being true.”
Barkley said he’s mature enough to understand that this is part of the NFL’s harsh business, but he clearly didn’t appreciate seeing stories about the contracts he allegedly turned down.
Asked if the guaranteed money on those offers was way lower than portrayed, Barkley said: “I’m not gonna get too much into the contract details. But some of the stories are misleading, I said I’m not trying to reset the market. I said I wanted to be a Giant for life. So I’ll let you guys read in between the lines for that.”
When asked what he thought of Schoen making public that he had pulled offers off the table, Barkley seethed: “Like I said, that’s for a whole ‘nother time.”
He said football is a team game, and he knows the running back market is down, “but I feel like I’m more than that.”
“I feel like we finally got to a place where we were a successful team, we got to winning games, and I feel like I was a big part of that,” Barkley. “Not just me only … but I feel like I was a big part of that. I want to win football games. I want to bring a championship to New York.”
There was a huge amount of support from fellow Giants for Barkley at Sunday’s camp.
Defensive coordinator Wink Martindale attended, as did a ton of players: Darren Waller, Dexter Lawrence, Tyrod Taylor, Isaiah Hodgins, Amani Oruwariye, Darnay Holmes, Micah McFadden and Dane Belton.
Barkley said physically, he feels like “I’m entering my prime. I’m going to be the best version of myself going into the back of my career.”
So the Giants have tagged him, sure. But he hasn’t signed the tender. He will continue to stay away for this week’s mandatory minicamp, since he’s not technically signed or on the roster. And he’ll proceed depending on what happens between now and mid-July accordingly.
“They have a lot of leverage with the tag, but I’m not gonna sit here and say nothing’s gonna get done before July 17,” he said. “I can’t sit here and say that. Hopefully something gets done before. If not, when it happens, I’ll sit down and see what’s the next move.”
