Saquon Barkley’s departure from the New York Giants to the rival Philadelphia Eagles has been much discussed and documented this season.
The Giants have been the subject of HBO’s first-ever Hard Knocks: Offseason, which has followed the front office team, led by general manager Joe Schoen. Through three episodes, Barkley’s departure has been one of the main subjects of the documentary, with the most recent episode seeing the saga end as Barkley left for Philly. While the documentary has given fans a look into the Giants’ side of things, Barkley gave his version of events in a tell-all interview with Diana Russini of The Athletic.
There was not too much to separate the two sides of the story for Barkley. The former Penn State star gave credit to the producers of Hard Knocks for making his contract negotiations dramatic, but the truth is that there was not much to dig into this offseason.
Barkley was adamant that he spoke to the Giants’ front office once at the end of the season, and then again on the infamous phone call shown in the documentary in which Schoen informed Barkley that the Giants would let him hit the open market and try to match the offers from other teams he came back with.
Barkley understood the situation but did not love the move from the Giants front office, saying, “I felt like it was kind of disrespectful. Kind of a little slap in the face.”
In the end, Barkley narrowed it down to three teams willing to give him the money he wanted. The Giants were not even considered, with the teams reportedly being the Houston Texans, Chicago Bears, and of course Philadelphia. The Giants clearly had a number in mind (likely $9 million or $10 million according to Barkley) that they would not pay him more than. When they realized Barkley had real offers, they dropped out without throwing their hat in the ring at all.
Other than their most beloved player signing with a rival that has dominated them over the past decade, the most frustrating part of this whole saga for Giants fans is that Barkley clearly wanted to be a Giant, seemingly making more of an effort for New York, as he recalled, “I didn’t want to continue to come off like I’m begging. I already said multiple times that I wanted to be a Giant for life.”
Clearly there was a gap between Schoen and Barkley. Based on the documentary, Schoen seemed perfectly comfortable building up the Giants’ offensive line and building around quarterback Daniel Jones, rather than Barkley.
According to Barkley, “We never got the sense that he [Schoen] truly valued my position, which is fine.”
Schoen represents a modern way of thinking among NFL front offices. He is not necessarily wrong to place a lower value on the running back position. Derrick Henry is perhaps the only example of a running back being the focal point of a successful team in the past decade. However, a truly transcendent running back talent being placed on a team full of weapons (think Christian Mccaffrey on the San Francisco 49ers or Barkley on the Eagles) has been proven to elevate an offense entirely, even in a pass-happy league.
The real drama of this saga occurred last offseason when the Giants placed the franchise tag on Barkley before signing him to a one-year contract right before the season began. “
I wish they had Hard Knocks that year [2023],” Barkley said. “Last year there was more action, more juice.”
In the 2023 offseason, the Giants were coming off a run to the divisional round of the playoffs, with Barkley being the team’s best offensive player. He felt he was not seen that way at the negotiating table, saying, “They got everybody [signed] that was a key part of why they made it to the playoffs…They made offers to me, but I never got a true negotiation.”
Even after Barkley proved he could be the focal point of a winning team, the Giants still were not willing to pay him like a premium offensive weapon. Based on the accounts of both sides, what occurred in the 2024 offseason was an inevitability after 2023.
Then, there was the matter of swapping a major sports town for its rival. Barkley said that he anticipated some backlash from Giants fans, but to him “It’s not that deep, it’s not that serious.”
After two offseasons of gridlock with the Giants front office, Barkley felt relieved to feel valued by a franchise, saying, “It felt great. Honestly, it helped to rejuvenate my career.”
As far as his farewell to Giants fans, Barkley did have a few regrets.
“I don’t think I handled that situation right at all,” said Barkley, citing his self-defense on social media as the reason he didn’t give a proper goodbye to his beloved Giants fans.
Still, it wasn’t easy for Barkley to leave.
“It hurt…I wanted to be a part of New York and their success,” he said to Russini. Barkley feels good about where his career is now, commenting on his decision to go to Philadelphia, “It was a no-brainer. The only con on the Philly side was you might get hate.”
