Saquon Barkley

Giants-Saquon Barkley Fallout: Negotiations, Incentives, Trade, RB Coalition

July 27th, 2023 at 1:14pm CST by Sam Robinson

The long-running Saquon Barkley-Giants saga has hit a pause, with the Pro Bowl running back signing a revised franchise tag that includes a small incentive package. Unable to negotiate a long-term deal until January, Barkley returned to the team for the start of training camp.

Barkley relayed his disappointment about the talks failing to produce an offer he deemed respectable, indicating Thursday (via ESPN’s Jordan Raanan) if the Giants had submitted worthwhile terms he would have signed an extension. Rumors pointed to the Giants upping their guarantee offer past the $22MM mark but decreasing the deal’s AAV below $12MM. Previous reports had placed an earlier Giants proposal past $13MM-per-year territory. But Barkley will enter this season on the $10.1MM tag, being in the same boat as Tony Pollard and Josh Jacobs.

While Barkley did not express dissatisfaction about the Giants paying Daniel Jones, Dexter Lawrence and Andrew Thomas — on deals worth $40MM, $22.5MM and $23.5MM per year, respectively — and not him, he did note (via the New York Daily News’ Pat Leonard) the continued devaluation of the running back position is unfair. He took part in the recent Zoom call involving several running backs, and Chargers standout Austin Ekeler recently confirmed (via USA Today’s Tyler Dragon) more discussions among RBs are on tap.

Declining to discuss details of the proposals each side made during the negotiations, the sixth-year running back said (via Fox Sports’ Ralph Vacchiano) the Giants having the leverage from the tag led to no deal commencing. But the Giants reached out to Barkley for a way to bring him back into the fold, Mike Garafolo of NFL.com tweets. Had the incentive package — worth $909K — emerged, Vacchiano echoes previous reports by adding Barkley was considering not showing up until just before the season.

The 26-year-old RB said skipping regular-season games would be an option, but it does not look like he strongly considered that path — one that would have meant passing on $561K game checks. Barkley could have taken the Le’Veon Bell route to preserve his body for a free agency bid, but considering the state of the RB market five years after Bell’s gamble, it is unlikely a Jets-like parachute would have awaited had he done so.

“If I sat out this year and we didn’t have a good record, do you think that’s gonna make another team in free agency or the Giants want to have me come back the next year after I sat out a whole year?” Barkley said, via SNY.com. “‘We want to give you $15MM a year now.’ I don’t think that’s how it’s going to work.

“After having conversations and really breaking it down, you say the only way that I’m going to make a change or do something that’s gonna benefit for myself and my family is doing what I do best. That’s showing up, playing the game I love and do it at a high level.”

As for Barkley’s incentives, they are classified as not likely to be earned. As such, the $909K number will not go on New York’s 2023 cap sheet. If Barkley hits any of the benchmarks, those numbers will go on the team’s 2024 payroll. Each number is tied to Big Blue making the playoffs, per the New York Post’s Ryan Dunleavy, who notes the rushing yards (1,350), receptions (65) and touchdowns (11) totals are each worth $303K and only vest if the team reaches the postseason (Twitter links).

Barkley last hit 65 catches in 2018, which was also his only season with 11-plus TDs. He has never rushed for 1,350 yards. If the Giants tag Barkley again, the incentives would be part of that agreement as well, Albert Breer of SI.com adds. But the base value of a 2024 tag would still be $12.1MM.

A report indicated the Giants heard from two teams — one of them the Dolphins — on a prospective Barkley trade following the failed extension talks, but GM Joe Schoen insisted no discussions occurred. The Giants listened on Barkley trade interest last year, but he bounced back from an injury-plagued stretch and drew the franchise tag. The team can still trade Barkley before this year’s deadline, though no extension agreement can commence. The Giants trading the New Jersey native would leave them vulnerable at running back, hence the decision to keep him via the tag in March.

“We never had a conversation about trading Saquon Barkley. Never,” Schoen said, via Raanan. “We get calls all the time. We’ve already gotten them this offseason, whether it’s our 10th corner … or one of your top guys. We get those calls all the time, even in June.

“… We talked for over 9½ months, and we came to a landing spot and they came to a landing spot. We couldn’t bridge the gap [on a long-term deal]. Like I said, that’s OK. Saquon has to do what is best for him and his family. I respect the hell out of Saquon.”

Dolphins Inquired On Saquon Barkley Trade

July 25th, 2023 at 4:07pm CST by Adam La Rose

More news concerning the process by which Saquon Barkley arrived at his current position has come out. Conflicting reports have emerged, but one key takeaway is the interest shown by a team long thought to be in the market for a different veteran running back.

Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio reports that, upon the Giants’ decision to use the franchise tag on Barkley, his agents requested the team shop him in an effort to find a suitable trade partner. The Giants themselves (along with several outlets, as well as Barkley himself) have denied that New York ever intended to move on from the two-time Pro Bowler, who has repeatedly stated his intention of spending his full career in the Big Apple.

Providing clarity on the matter, the New York Post’s Ryan Dunleavy notes that teams called the Giants to explore the possibility of a trade. Specifically, two clubs inquired about Barkley’s availability, and New York turned down the offers which were made. One of those, per Dunleavy, was the Dolphins.

Miami has long been connected to Dalvin Cook, by far the most high-profile name left on the open market amongst running backs. A deal sending the four-time Pro Bowler to his hometown team is something for which mutual interest is believed to exist, though the current offer on the table is not sufficient in Cook’s view. Miami has a number of backs on the roster already, but winning the Cook sweepstakes would provide a considerable boost to their ground game.

Intra-divisional competition in the form of the Patriots and Jets has emerged, so the Dolphins’ attention will likely remain on Cook for the time being. In any event, it is certainly notable they went as far as to make an offer for Barkley when his long-term Giants future was in doubt. The latter team’s approach kept Barkley’s market quiet, though, paving the way for today’s resolution to his short-term situation.

The 26-year-old agreed to an adjusted franchise tag which includes $900K in incentives above the $10.1MM he was set to earn by playing on the tender. That move has not addressed Barkley’s long-term future in New York (seeing as the team could simply tag him again next season), but it marked an end to an offseason in which the Giants fielded calls on what would have been a franchise-altering trade.

Giants, Saquon Barkley Agree To Deal

July 25th, 2023 at 8:03am CST by Adam La Rose

In a surprise twist, the franchise tag-induced situation between Saquon Barkley and the Giants has been resolved. The two sides agreed on a one-year deal worth up to $11MM, per NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport (Twitter link).

The guaranteed base value of the contract is $10.1MM – the same as the franchise tag Barkley was set to play on during the 2023 season. $900K in incentives are in place to give him the opportunity to slightly outpace the earnings he would have seen on the tender. Rushing yards, touchdowns and receptions will yield added compensation, but only if the Giants make the postseason (Twitter links via ESPN’s Adam Schefter and Ryan Dunleavy of the New York Post). Rapoport adds that the 26-year-old will receive a $2MM signing bonus, while his colleague Mike Garafolo notes that New York will still be able to use the tag next year if they so desire (Twitter link).

Barkley was one of three running backs who were unable to reach agreement on a long-term deal ahead of last week’s deadline for franchise tag recipients. Negotiations on that front are not allowed to re-commence until January, but NFL rules allow for one-year deals to be signed in place of the tag, even if they are worked out after the deadline. Such instances are rare, but in this case the provision has allowed for a compromise which will see the Giants’ offensive catalyst work out his contractual status (for this season) in time for training camp.

Barkley and the Giants came within roughly $2MM on both annual value and guaranteed compensation during their eleventh-hour negotiations, marking notable progress but leading to questions about why a deal could not be worked out. The team’s last offer included an increase in AAV in exchange for a lesser guaranteed figure, and it was only right up against the deadline that New York was willing to reach the $22MM mark in the latter category. That represents the amount Barkley (along with Josh Jacobs and Tony Pollard) would earn on consecutive tags, which are fully guaranteed. Offers including assurances above $22MM on a multi-year contract would therefore be needed for those backs to see them as an improvement on playing out two tags.

After the deadline passed, Barkley spoke publicly about his frustrations with leaked information regarding extension talks. He also expanded on the previously-reported possibility that he would not only hold out from training camp, but skip out regular season games as well. Doing so would have resulted in $560K in lost salary per week, and left the team without the focal point of their ground game. That scenario is now off the table, though, and both parties can move forward with preparations for the season.

Having not signed his tag, Barkley would not have been subject to fines for missing camp. Now that he will be under contract, his attendance will be mandatory. His return to the team will be a welcomed development, as he looks to build off his career-best 1,312 rushing yards from last season, which helped propel to Giants to a surprise run to the divisional round of the playoffs. The financial element of his 2023 performance will still be worth watching closely, however, since today’s news leaves him eligible to be tagged for a second time after the campaign.

With Barkley’s situation now resolved and Pollard having already signed his tag, attention will now turn to Jacobs. The latter began his hold out of Raiders training camp yesterday, and he has also acknowledged the threat of missing regular season games. Whether or not this Giants-Barkley compromise provides a blueprint for a solution between Jacobs and the Raiders will be worth watching closely.

Latest On RB Coalition

July 23rd, 2023 at 9:55pm CST by Ely Allen

Last night, a group of the NFL’s veteran running backs got together on a Zoom call organized by Chargers rusher Austin Ekeler. There was a reportedly strong turnout of NFL-talent for a meeting that ultimately gained little ground. Mike Florio of NBC Sports was able to provide some details on what transpired during the meeting.

According to Florio, despite some of the league’s best backs being in attendance, little progress was made towards a solution. The league’s current collective bargaining agreement is in place through 2030, and it doesn’t provide the running backs much leeway in their options. The NFL Players Association, which was not a part of the conversation last night, can’t necessarily contribute much to the conversation as, due to the nature of a league with a salary cap, giving money to running backs necessitates that money be taken from other positions.

That didn’t stop NFLPA president JC Tretter from suggesting in an interview that running backs could simply stage hold-ins by embellishing, exaggerating, or simply fabricating injuries. That suggestion was brought up on the call but quickly dismissed as it would feed “into the narrative that (running backs are) prone to injury.” It would also provide backs further down the depth chart an opportunity to prove they’re a better roster value than they’re more “injury-prone” counterparts.

Other ideas that could help the group include the use of the league’s Performance-Based Pay Pool to supplement running back income, shortening the position’s track to a second contract, or making adjustments to the franchise tag formula. Performance-Based Pay would reward the league’s top backs whose production exceeds their meager contracts. Shortening rookie contracts for running backs is a complicated solution that would likely require the NFLPA to negotiate on behalf of the running backs, which, again, can take away from other positions represented by the Association.

The franchise tag formula provides two possible solutions. The first would see the formula modified to simply increase the value of running back tags. The normal calculation would be increased to make tagging rushers a bit more costly of an option and force teams to explore second contracts with more dedication. The second solution is actually a bit of an extension on the first, suggesting a source for that increase. Currently, all offensive linemen’s franchise tag amounts are based on the contracts of tackles (the highest earning members of their position group). For this reason, interior linemen often don’t get tagged because they would be paid a tackle’s rate. If the league were to break up the offensive line into three categories (tackles, guards, centers), the interior linemen would no longer be receiving tackle-money, providing some wiggle room for running backs.

One of the players who attended the call was Browns running back Nick Chubb, who spoke to the media about the discussion, according to Jake Trotter of ESPN. Chubb confirmed that such elite athletes as Christian McCaffrey, Derrick Henry, and Saquon Barkley all attended and contributed to the conversation.

Chubb also elaborated on the feeling of being handcuffed in terms of what action can be taken. He expanded on a common complaint that running back is the only position whose production hurts them. If they go out and rush for 2,000 yards, instead of being rewarded, they are assumed to be worn down. Chubb is a year away from a contract year himself, but he fully recognizes that he could find himself in this situation during the next offseason.

Regardless, right now, without the help of the NFLPA, there isn’t much for running backs to do. Some backs pointed out that their own agents have contributed to the problem (agents were not on the call). Often, agents will backload ridiculous numbers into a contract that inflate the annual average value (AAV) to amounts that a running back will never see.

Saints rusher Alvin Kamara‘s contract is a perfect example. With an AAV of $15MM, Kamara has only seen that much money in the first year of his deal, when he received a $15MM signing bonus. In 2021, he only received $2MM cash and, for the three subsequent years, he earned/will earn between $11MM and $11.80MM cash. These numbers are all so much lower than the AAV because, in the final year of the contract, Kamara is set to receive $25MM cash. The chances of Kamara reaching that final, big payout are extremely low, but that amount made what was really a $10MM per year contract much more palatable.

The running backs need to ensure that their agents are on the same page about whatever strategies they decide to implement. Florio wisely points out that, while teams are not allowed to collude in regard to negotiating strategies, players and their agents absolutely have the right to collaborate.

Saquon Barkley Addresses Giants Negotiations, Prospect Of Missing Games

July 19th, 2023 at 4:38pm CST by Sam Robinson

After the Giants and Saquon Barkley spent the past eight months in sporadic extension talks, the Pro Bowl running back will be forced to play this season on a $10.1MM franchise tag. Barkley joins Josh Jacobs and Tony Pollard in this boat during a turbulent stretch for the running back position.

The Giants and Barkley came within approximately $2MM — both in AAV and guarantees — of hammering out a deal. As RB value dropped this offseason, Barkley and Jacobs are not expected to report to their respective training camps. Barkley has now referenced the prospect of sitting out regular-season games on multiple occasions.

During a podcast appearance days before the Monday’s tag deadline, the Giants back outlined his thought process regarding his absence lasting into the regular season.

“I have no worry about going on a football field and knowing that I’m not playing for my worth or saying if I have to play, because this is my leverage: my leverage is I could say f*** you to the Giants,” Barkley said during an appearance on The Money Matters Podcast with Jack Mallers (via the New York Daily News’ Pat Leonard). “I could say f*** you to my teammates and be like, ‘You want me to show you my worth? You want me to show how valuable I am to the team? I won’t show up. I won’t play a down. And that’s a play I can use.

“Anybody [who] knows me knows that’s not something I want to do. But is that something that’s crossed my mind? I never thought I would ever do that, but now I’m at a point where it’s like ‘Jesus, like, I might have to take it to this level.’ Am I willing and prepared to take it to the level? I don’t know.”

None of Barkley’s options at this point include money beyond 2023. He has not signed the $10.1MM franchise tender, allowing for a camp no-show without a fine. He addressed the subject of a Le’Veon Bell-like move earlier this summer, and a recent report reintroduced the prospect of skipping at least Week 1. Barkley would lose out on $561K for each game missed, but seeing as the former No. 2 overall pick resides in a different NFL tax bracket compared to Jacobs or Pollard due to banking $38MM-plus from 2018-22, missing games to punish the Giants and remove the risk of injury and wear and tear is more realistic in this case.

“[Missing games is] something I gotta sit down and talk to my family [about],” Barkley said. “I gotta sit down and talk to my team, gotta really strategize about this. I can’t just go off of emotions … But I am at a place where if I do go on the field and have to play and prove again, I’m fine with that.”

The only upside of a Barkley in-season absence would be limiting mileage and better positioning himself for a free agency bid in 2024. Barkley logged 352 touches in 2018 and 2022, and injury- and talent-based questions about the Giants’ receiving corps positions the sixth-year running back as a cornerstone player in 2023 as well. While Bell took considerable heat for passing on a $14.5MM franchise tag in 2018, the Jets gave him a four-year, $52.5MM deal ($27MM guaranteed) in 2019. The current RB market does not suggest a windfall would await Barkley next year, and the Giants could tag him again at barely $12MM. But the Penn State product is running out of time to score a lucrative veteran contract.

Barkley, 26, can also attempt to use the threat of missed games to entice the Giants to add a clause that prohibits a second tag in 2024. This staring contest may last a bit, with Sportskeeda’s Tony Pauline adding Barkley feels disrespected and will be ready to stay away from his team for a “significant” time period.

Barkley assessed the contract negotiations — at least those that occurred before last weekend — and indicated a conversation with John Mara prompted him to intervene during the sides’ winter talks. But after the Giants franchise-tagged Barkley, they pulled a contract offer. The sides’ talks before this week’s deadline brought the guarantee total toward $22MM but dropped the AAV below $12MM. Although the Mara talks did not produce a deal, Pauline adds second-year GM Joe Schoen communicated to Barkley and Daniel Jones of a likelihood of the player not extended in March would have a real chance of playing on the tag. The Giants made Jones their top offseason priority and extended him (four years, $160MM) minutes before the March deadline to tag players.

“That was the only time I really got involved in the negotiation process,” Barkley said. “I sat down with the owner. The owner told me what it was, told me how they care about me. And this is when we were still going tit for tat [with offers] … The owner opened up to me, and I respected that.

“’I let you [Mara] know how much I feel about this place, how much I feel about your family, … how much I feel about [Steve] Tisch’s family.’ That’s when I picked up the phone and I called my agent and I was like, ‘I don’t care; let’s get it done. Like boom, this is where I want to be, this is the number I’m fine with, boom, let’s get there.’ … When you get tagged, now they have the tag, now it’s like, ‘You know what Saquon? If we really want to, we don’t have to offer you anything.'”

Previously accusing the Giants of providing dishonest information about his contract desires via leaks, Barkley also accused the team of comparing him to backs with inferior receiving skillsets. To be fair, the Giants have not used Barkley’s receiving chops too much since Pat Shurmur‘s exit; his last 400-plus-yard aerial season came in 2019.

“I’m not even asking for what I’m worth,” Barkley said of his goal before the deadline. “Because I just told you I’m the best running back in the NFL. But I’m not going to war for that. In the negotiation process, I’m not going to war for that.

“For me, I was like, you know what, I can go there, I can go to war, try to get as much money as I can, but at the end of the day, what really matters is winning, and winning a championship. And I know if I’m able to help bring a championship to New York, that’s going to go miles more ahead than this contract.”

Due to tag rules, Barkley contract talks cannot commence again until January 2024. The New Jersey native’s comments just before the tag deadline indicated he wanted to stay with the Giants for the rest of his career. It will be interesting to see how this saga plays out now that the extension talks have ceased.

Giants, Saquon Barkley Were Close To Deal

July 18th, 2023 at 9:20pm CST by Adam La Rose

Saquon Barkley headlined the list of running backs who were unable to negotiate a long-term deal ahead of yesterday’s deadline, leaving them to play out the season on the franchise tag. Talks between he and the Giants nearly produced an agreement.

The two parties came within roughly $1-$2MM of reaching an agreement on the matter of both annual compensation and guaranteed money, as detailed by Ryan Dunleavy of the New York Post and corroborated (on Twitter) by NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo. The Giants’ final offer made in advance of the deadline was a three-year contract with an AAV of between $11MM and $11.5MM and $22-23MM in guarantees, per Dunleavy.

Barkley and the Giants had engaged in few contract talks in the weeks leading up to yesterday, but they circled back in an effort to come to terms. Given their inability to bridge the relatively small gap which existed – Dunleavy adds that both parties felt they had conceded as much as they could – the 26-year-old is now faced with the proposition of earning $10.1MM on the tag this season or sitting out regular season games and costing himself $560K per week in the process.

At the trade deadline in the 2022 season, Barkley seemed to a higher priority for the Giants than quarterback Daniel Jones. It was the latter who was the preferred target of a long-term deal by March, however, and the team’s ability to come to terms on a contract just before the deadline to apply tags allowed them to use it on Barkley. That shifted leverage towards New York, and the team faced little pressure to offer a lucrative package of salary and guarantees given the presence of the tag and the wider landscape of the RB market. Dunleavy does note, on the other hand, that “at least six teams” would have made a push to sign Barkley in free agency, had that become a possibility.

The Giants were unwilling – at least, right up until the deadline – to reach or surpass the $22MM mark in guarantees, a crucial figure in negotiations. Barkley (along with the Raiders’ Josh Jacobs and the Cowboys’ Tony Pollard) would earn just over $22MM by playing on franchise tags this year and next, so a long-term offer above that point would have been needed for a deal to be plausible. Upping the guarantees included lowering the AAV in the Barkley case, though, leaving the sides at an impasse.

The increasingly public nature of negotiations left the two-time Pro Bowler frustrated with this process, and attention will now turn to his willingness (or lack thereof) to participate in training camp in the build-up to his sixth season in the Big Apple. The team will face considerable expectations given last year’s surprising success, and Barkley will again be counted on as a focal point of New York’s offense. How the season dictates his financial market ahead of 2024 will be a major storyline to follow.

Barkley Fallout: Holdout, Guarantees, CBA

July 17th, 2023 at 10:05pm CST by Ben Levine

The Giants didn’t agree to an extension with franchise-tagged running back Saquon Barkley by today’s deadline, meaning the two sides must table talks until 2024. While Barkley can effectively no longer force the Giants’ hand with threats of a holdout, he may do so anyway.

After hearing earlier today that the RB wouldn’t be reporting to training camp on time, Ryan Dunleavy of the New York Post tweets his belief that Barkley could also sit out some regular season games. Dunleavy notes that he never thought this scenario was possible considering “winning, teammates and stats/legacy mean so much to” the player, but after conversations today, the writer is beginning to think a regular-season holdout could be a possibility.

Since Barkley has yet to ink his franchise tag, he wouldn’t be subject to fines for missing practices and/or games. Barkley’s true logic for sitting out games would be to preserve his miles before his one-year tag expires. Of course, players like Le’Veon Bell haven’t fared all that well when they followed a similar tactic, so it would be a significant risk for Barkley to give up the guaranteed money.

As The Athletic’s Dan Duggan writes, Barkley could also use the threat of a holdout to force the Giants into some concessions. Specifically, Duggan could say he’d only sign the franchise tag if the organization “includes a clause prohibiting the team from tagging him again next offseason.”

While a regular-season holdout is just conjecture at this point, it sounds pretty definitive that Barkley will miss some of training camp. ESPN’s Jordan Raanan writes that “there is no way” Barkley shows up for training camp and risks injury.

More notes out of New York…

Barkley was seeking a contract that would pay him a similar average annual value as Derrick Henry ($12.5MM) and Nick Chubb ($12.2MM), and he wasn’t seeking a deal that approached the top-end of the market (like Christian McCaffrey‘s $16MM AAV or Alvin Kamara‘s $15MM AAV), per Pat Leonard of the New York Post. The writer seems to imply that the Giants may have been willing to give him those kind of numbers on paper, but the RB was ultimately seeking more guaranteed money.
As Leonard notes in the same piece, the public leaks surrounding the negotiations may have also played a role in the two sides not agreeing to a deal. Barkley previously said he was frustrated with the “misleading” and “untruthful” reports, noting that the leaks “tried to make me look like I’m greedy.” “We say ‘family business is family business’ in that facility, … and then sources come out and stories get leaked, and it didn’t come from me,” Barkley said. “It’s all about respect. That’s really what it is.” Despite it all, Albert Breer of TheMMQB.com tweets that “everyone” (including Barkley, GM Joe Schoen, and head coach Brian Daboll) wanted to get a deal done.
Barkley wasn’t the only franchise-tagged RB to not get a long-term deal today, as Josh Jacobs and Tony Pollard didn’t ink new contracts. Breer points to two specific changes to the Collective Bargaining Agreement in 2011 that may have led to today’s results (Twitter link). First, the CBA made it so no player could earn a contract until after their third year in the NFL. Second, the league “strengthened penalties” for holdouts dissuaded players from sitting out. Combined, these two rule changes ended up preventing RBs from taking “a hard line when their value is highest,” per Breer.

Saquon Barkley, Josh Jacobs, Tony Pollard Fail To Reach Extension Agreements

July 17th, 2023 at 3:01pm CST by Sam Robinson

As the running back market resides as a shell of its form of even a few months ago, the franchise tag deadline has come and gone without any of the three tagged backs reaching extension agreements.

After multiple reports suggested Tony Pollard was not close on a deal with the Cowboys, the Giants and Raiders will not come to terms with Saquon Barkley or Josh Jacobs on respective extensions, NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport, Tom Pelissero and Mike Garafolo report (Twitter links). All three backs will be tied to the $10.1MM franchise tag.

The Giants and Barkley looked to be the closest on terms, and the sides had engaged in extension talks since last November. But guaranteed money loomed as a sticking point for the Giants, who will not be seeing their tagged back for a while. As should be expected, Barkley will not report to training camp on time, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com tweets. Likewise, The Athletic’s Vic Tafur notes Jacobs will not be rejoining the Raiders for a while (Twitter link). All extension talks between the backs and their respective teams must be tabled to 2024.

Both Barkley and Jacobs have been connected to potentially skipping regular-season time; Pollard signing his franchise tender in late March will not allow him to miss training camp work without fines coming his way. Barkley and Jacobs have not signed their tenders and cannot be fined for missing camp workouts. While Pollard will be expected to report to the Cowboys on time, it will almost definitely be a while before Barkley and Jacobs — both of whom having voiced frustration during this process — show up.

Considering the damage done to the RB market this offseason, it is unsurprising the tag deadline played out this way. Jacobs and the Raiders were never believed to be close on terms, while the Cowboys and Pollard may not have engaged in substantive talks.

The 2023 backfield market crash involved four of the eight-figure-per-year players at the position either being released (Ezekiel Elliott, Dalvin Cook) or forced into pay cuts (Aaron Jones, Joe Mixon). It would be easier at this point to mention the top-market backs whose contracts were not reduced or shed. For what it’s worth, Christian McCaffrey, Alvin Kamara, Derrick Henry and Nick Chubb did not see any pay reductions this year. Austin Ekeler, however, requested a trade and was given permission to seek a relocation; the Chargers back — he of 38 touchdowns over the past two seasons — did not generate much interest. The Cowboys, Giants and Raiders kept their backs off the market; no back who did hit free agency signed a deal averaging even $6.5MM per year.

The Giants and Barkley attempted to come to terms today, with ESPN’s Dianna Russini noting negotiations ran up until the deadline (Twitter link). No deal commenced. After the Giants were believed to have climbed a bit on guarantees, their final offer was also lower on average annual value. New York had previously offered Barkley a deal averaging in the $13MM-per-year neighborhood — a proposal the team made during the parties’ winter negotiations — and included around $19MM in guarantees. The team came up on guarantees earlier today, with that number rising toward $22MM. None of it ended up mattering, as Fox Sports’ Ralph Vacchiano adds neither side moved “nearly enough” to finalize an extension (Twitter link).

No terms are known in the Jacobs talks, which provided a fairly clear indication a deal was not especially close. Like the Giants, the Raiders appeared fine carrying their starting running back’s $10.1MM tag number on their cap sheet. Of course, it will be worth wondering when both players show up.

Jacobs has earned barely $11MM — via his rookie contract — during his career, while Barkley has pocketed almost $40MM. The Giants back would be in a better position to exercise the Le’Veon Bell nuclear option — skipping games in protest of the tag. Barkley listed the Bell boycott as a potential option, but that also likely was a leverage ploy. It would be interesting to see if Barkley would be willing to use his money earned to punish the Giants here, but that has never loomed as a realistic scenario. Barkley and Jacobs will cost themselves $560K for each game missed. To be fair, Bell still found a willing buyer — the Jets, who gave him a four-year, $52.5MM deal — in free agency after sitting out a season for preservation purposes. It would not seem such a suitor would exist, given the present state of the position, if Barkley or Jacobs took this route.

The last eight-figure-AAV running back contract to be authorized came in July 2021 — the Browns’ three-year, $36.6MM Chubb extension. While Chubb, Jones, Henry, Cook and, to an extent, Kamara and McCaffrey have played well on their big-ticket extensions — McCaffrey doing so after being traded to the 49ers — teams are shifting in the other direction at this position. Barkley and Colts extension candidate Jonathan Taylor sent out ominous tweets regarding their position’s state Monday afternoon. Taylor’s rookie deal expires after this season. Seeing as the running back tag has gone down from the time Bell was twice tagged — for $12.12MM (2017) and $14.54MM (2018) — a Taylor tag certainly will be a logical next step for the Colts.

As for Pollard, ESPN.com’s Todd Archer indicates the Cowboys did submit a proposal to their tagged back. But it does not sound like the sides went too deep on contract talks (Twitter link). Pollard has been fine playing on the tag, per the Fort Worth Star-Telegram’s Clarence Hill (on Twitter). Unlike Barkley and Jacobs, however, Pollard may not be a strong candidate to be retagged in 2024. Trevon Diggs is also set to play on an expiring contract this year.

Giants, Saquon Barkley To Re-Engage In Contract Talks; No Deal Imminent

July 17th, 2023 at 8:52am CST by Adam La Rose

Today marks the deadline for franchise tag recipients to sign multi-year deals and avoid playing on the one-year tag for the 2023 season. That leaves only a few hours for the Giants and running back Saquon Barkley to come to an agreement.

Ryan Dunleavy of the New York Post reports that the sides are expected to conduct further negotiations ahead of the 3pm central deadline (Twitter link). He adds that periods of contract talks have been few and far between in recent weeks, as New York has remained firm at its price point while the 26-year-old has attempted to use his limited leverage to achieve a larger guarantee than the $22MM he would earn on consecutive franchise tags.

With plenty of ground left to cover in a matter of hours, ESPN’s Jordan Raanan tweets that neither party is optimistic a deal will be reached today. That sentiment is echoed by Jonathan Jones of CBS Sports (via Twitter), who adds that a contract for Barkley, Josh Jacobs of the Raiders or Cowboys‘ back Tony Pollard would come as a surprise at this point. Only Pollard has signed his $10.1MM franchise tag as of now.

As a result, both Barkley and Jacobs would not be obligated to attend their respective training camps if they exited today without a long-term deal in hand. Both backs have been named as a candidate to sit out during Week 1, though the prospect of choosing to miss out on game checks would make such a scenario an unlikely one. Playing on the tag in 2023 would be an unwanted consolation for both players looking to reverse a downward trend in the running back market, something highlighted this offseason in particular.

To date, the highest guarantee figure Giants have been willing to offer is $19.5MM, but that appears to have recently changed. Dunleavy tweets that New York has submitted an offer “in the ballpark” of $22MM in terms of guarantees, but with a decreased annual average value compared to the one including $19.5MM. General manager Joe Schoen has shown a willingness to change the team’s position as circumstances shift. After their last-minute deal was worked out with quarterback Daniel Jones in March, the Giants withdrew the standing offer which was in place for Barkley, allowing them to apply the franchise tag. How far the team decides to go in terms of length, AAV and guarantees will be worth watching closely, especially as it relates to negotiations between Jacobs and the Raiders.

Barkley enjoyed a career year on the ground in 2022 (1,312 rushing yards), serving as the focal point of New York’s offense. The past campaign was only his second one spent at full health, however, and the team has Jones on the books through 2026 and a modified pass-catching corps led by tight end Darren Waller in place to help him take what they hope will be a notable step forward this season. The degree to which Barkley fits into the Giants’ intermediate- and long-term plans will be determined soon.

Tag Rumors: Barkley, Jacobs, Engram

July 14th, 2023 at 9:59pm CST by Ely Allen

With the Monday deadline for franchise tagged players to sign long-term deals approaching fast, NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo gave some quick updates on the last remaining franchise tagged players. The Ravens and quarterback Lamar Jackson agreed to a long-term deal, as did the Commanders and defensive tackle Daron Payne, while Cowboys running back Tony Pollard has decided to play out the 2023 season on the franchise tag. This leaves Giants running back Saquon Barkley, Raiders running back Josh Jacobs, and Jaguars tight end Evan Engram as the last remaining cases to be solved.

According to Garafolo, there hasn’t been much good traction on a deal between New York and Barkley. He reports that the two sides “are still far apart.” He notes that three days is technically plenty of time to get a deal done, especially for the franchise that signed quarterback Daniel Jones to a new deal minutes before the franchise tag deadline. Garafolo confirms that Barkley has “threatened to potentially holdout into the season,” meaning that he certainly shouldn’t be expected at training camp unless a new deal is reached.
Similar news for Jacobs, as we’ve been reporting throughout the day. It’s become clear that he and Las Vegas are not near an agreement as the clock ticks down. Garafolo relays a report from colleague Tom Pelissero that Jacobs is not going to be at training camp without a new deal and is also a candidate to holdout into the regular season.
Engram’s situation appears to be a bit less harrowing. Despite the fact that Engram wasn’t present for the team’s spring OTAs and minicamp because of the unsigned tag, he is still expected to be present at training camp, even if the two sides fail to reach an agreement on a long-term deal. According to Garafolo, the likelihood of that deal coming to fruition appears to just under a 50-50 chance.

Load More Posts