Saquon Barkley hasn’t thought about Sunday’s season finale against the Philadelphia Eagles potentially being his final game as a member of the New York Giants, but he knows there is a chance it very well could be.
“Obviously, that’s a possibility,” Barkley told reporters on Wednesday (via the Giants). “A lot of that’s out of my control. So, for me, I kind of just try to keep the main thing, the main thing. Like I said, the biggest thing is this locker room, and this team is going to be completely different next year. So, cherish the moments and go out there and try to go off on a high note.”
The 26-year-old star running back will be out of a contract when the Giants’ playoff-less season draws to a close in Week 18 at MetLife Stadium, and there has been little indication from general manager Joe Schoen that he wants to keep Barkley for the long haul. The only time those lines of communication were open was at the trade deadline when Barkley was told that he was not getting traded.
Barkley is in search of a long-term deal that he and the Giants were unable to agree on last offseason. After the All-Pro rusher turned down a $14 million per year deal, New York franchise tagged him. He made just north of $10 million this season and, despite an ankle injury keeping him sidelined for three games, still produced behind a weak offensive line.
Over 13 games, Barkley has rushed for 916 yards with an additional 229 receiving yards and eight total touchdowns. His 1,145 total scrimmage yards is over 400 more than the Giants’ next-leading playmaker, wide receiver Darius Slayton.
Yet Schoen has the option to exercise the franchise tag once again upon Barkley, but it’s an obvious path that the two-time Pro Bowler is looking to avoid — and one that would appear to dictate where he might call home next season.
“If they franchise tagged me again, I don’t know,” Barkley said. “I don’t think any player wants to get franchise-tagged. Sometimes the franchise tag is a placeholder to be able to work on a deal later. In my case, it wasn’t last year. So if I got tagged again, I think I could give you a better answer or talk about my emotions at that time if it does happen.”
Exit meetings will await Barkley — as it will every Giants player — following Sunday’s game where he hopes there will be some clarity. But that topic will certainly come up.
“I definitely will have that conversation with them…,” he continued. “I feel like it would be the right thing to just shoot me straight. Let me know what it’s going to be, let me make my decision and move on from there.”
The two parties will have exclusive negotiating rights until March 15, which is when the new NFL year begins and free agency officially starts. Barkley stated that he was “still as open as I was before,” to get a deal done before that date rather than wait until he can get onto the open market.
“Like I said, I just want something that’s fair, and that makes sense,” Barkley said. “That’s really it. I think I was open and honest about that last year, and I still stick by that. But like I said, I get it’s a business and if it’s not here, hopefully it’s some other place.”
His preference, however, still seems clear: He wants to remain with the Giants “for life.”
“That was a goal of mine when I got drafted. I wanted to leave a legacy here. But it’s out of my control,” Barkley said. ” truly have no say. It’s really up to those guys upstairs, to Joe (Schoen) and all those guys. They’ve got to do what’s best for the team and whatever they feel like is best for us, for the team, then they’re going to make the decision.
“But me sitting here saying ‘I want to be a Giant for life’ like I did last year, it doesn’t help, it doesn’t hurt. So, I’ll just leave that up to those guys.”
