Dave Gettleman has come around on the prospect of a Saquon Barkley extension in 2021. The fourth-year Giants GM is now open to the prospect of hammering out a deal with the fourth-year running back during the season.
Barkley became eligible for a new deal in January, but his knee rehab has obviously clouded such prospects. The former Offensive Rookie of the Year, however, continues to progress back to full strength. Should the 24-year-old back show his previous form, he would obviously make sense as an extension candidate.
“I think that it depends upon the guy. I think it depends on where the team is at. I used to feel like it was a bad idea, but not so much [now],” Gettleman said of in-season extensions, via the New York Post’s Zach Braziller. “Have I changed my idea on that? Yes. I’m a lot more flexible on that.”
[RELATED: Barkley Not Focused On Next Contract]
John Mara said in March the Giants were not in any hurry to extend Barkley, though the owner added he wanted the talented back to be a Giant for life. Barkley produced one of the best rookie seasons by a ball carrier in NFL history three years ago but suffered a high ankle sprain in 2019 and saw his September 2020 knee injury (ACL and MCL tears, with meniscus damage) stall his career. But Barkley came off the active/PUP list last week and went through his first seven-on-seven session Tuesday, Dan Duggan of The Athletic notes. While Barkley is not slated to participate in team drills during the Giants’ joint practices with the Browns, the team’s cautious plan with its lead back is thus far working.
“You need to see him back on the field producing, which we expect that to be the case. Our medical people feel very good about where he’s at right now,” Mara said. “I like what I’ve seen from him out on the field. Hopefully [an extension] will be an easy decision for us as well.”
Given his health history and the nature of the running back position, Barkley may want to lock in high-end money as soon as possible. Ezekiel Elliott, Alvin Kamara, Christian McCaffrey, Dalvin Cook, Joe Mixon and now Nick Chubb received extensions before their fourth seasons. Derrick Henry and Aaron Jones each signed after their fourth years. This group formed a new running back market, with average salaries ranging from $12-$16MM. And it appears the Giants are OK with Barkley joining this club in-season, provided he shows enough early in the campaign. Of course, Barkley completing a bounce-back year would set him up to potentially sign a market-topping extension in 2022. McCaffrey’s $16MM-per-year deal still leads the pack.
The Giants picking the Penn State product second overall would naturally make them eager to lock in a long-term partnership, and the cap being set to spike toward $210MM next year bodes well for extension candidates. Barkley is set to make just $850K in base salary this season, and his fifth-year option came in at only $7.22MM.
PAY HIM PLEASE
If DG doesn’t sign him, it’s an admission of a wasted pick. Sorta like his QB.
I think it would be an admission of bad luck. Few GMs would have passed on Barkley in the 2018 draft and it was the right choice for the Giants at the time.
Not really. Hindsight can be amazing, but I said it back at the time. Knew Barkley was a beast and show flashes, but would chased a QB if I was them. Why sign a RB at #2 overall when they fade so quickly and you can find value at that position much later? By the time a RB starts showing the wear and tear a QB is getting into the groove of leading your organization.
Barkley made an immediate impact but the Giants still had Manning, so a QB would have just been a clipboard holder.
Well they had Manning when they drafted Jones who momentarily held a clipboard before taking over.
Thanks. So the Giants would have taken Darnold or Rosen with you? Still been without a RB and with questions on the OL and no good QB option?
So much for hindsight and armchair GMs…
Without quality blocking by the line, Barkley might as well be running in quicksand.
I believe a poor OL limits a QBs success more than a RBs. Payton and Sanders did their rushing behind OLs that were often mediocre yet still managed to have HOF careers.
Believe it or not, but the Giants actually have a better W/L record when Barkley doesn’t play.
The dude is the league’s worst pass blocker, which is the style of play favored nowadays, thus I would wait to see if he returns to form before cutting him a big check.
‘Believe it or not, but the Giants actually have a better W/L record when Barkley doesn’t play.’
You’re splitting hairs here. They’ve been awful with him and without him. 8-23 with him, 7-10 without him, but that’s because 6 of those wins came against some of the worst teams in the game: WFT once in 2019 (Haskins first game) and twice in 2020 (this is mid-season, before their run; second game was Alex Smith’s first full game back; won both by a grand total of four points), Philly, Joe Burrow-less Cincinnati, and a pathetic Cowboys team on the last day of the season.
They’re not better without Barkley. They’ve just played worse teams without him.
Do the 5th year option and then tag him 2x and move on. It means we still get 4 more years of him without getting hurt by a bad contract. He is always one injury away from losing a step. Hell for all we know he already has with this injury. Paying backs too dollar doesn’t work out. Let someone else give him a bad contract once we get 7yrs out of him.
He already lost a step after the 2019 high ankle sprain. Saquan wasn’t the same dynamic runner when he returned later that season, or during his time in ‘20 before the knee injury
We haven’t seen him healthy in that time. It doesn’t mean he lost a step. The only time we was healthy in the last year and a half is week 1 last year and he didn’t look good. Hopefully for my giants he can stay healthy this year and be back to his old self. Hopefully he could learn to pass block too that would be nice.