Should Giants' next offer for Saquon Barkley look anything like their initial one?

Separating emotion from decision making is a general manager’s job

4/20/2023, 6:00 PM

EAST RUTHERFORD — The Giants are aware Saquon Barkley isn’t happy. It’s not hard to see why. He didn’t want them to use the franchise tag on him. They did. So, now, New York has a ticked-off tailback.

Only the Giants don’t seem to mind. They continue to talk with defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence about a long-term deal (also absent from the offseason program), but GM Joe Schoen admitted at his pre-draft press conference he hasn’t spoken with Barkley in weeks.

"There’s no rush," Schoen said.

Exactly. There’s not.

And considering the deteriorating value the rest of the NFL world has put on the position, it’s worth wondering if the Giants should pony up big cash for Barkley at all.

Barkley doesn’t have a long-term extension from the Giants because the Giants didn’t want to give him one. The two sides talked. First during the bye this past season, then again right after the year. The Giants were willing to extend Barkley to the tune of $12.5-$13 million annually — impressive compensation for a player whose game is not nearly as well rounded as some want to believe, nor one absent durability concerns.

In the Giants' opinion, this would put him in the same realm as Cleveland’s Nick Chubb.

That wasn’t good enough, though. Barkley wanted near $16 million — Christian McCaffrey money. That’s a large gap. So after agreeing to a long-term deal with quarterback Daniel Jones, the Giants franchise-tagged Barkley, removed their offer from the table, and told him they’d re-engage in conversations at a later date.

That date is not here yet, Schoen said.

The real question is if the Giants' next offer will look anything like their initial.

As good as Barkley is (1,312 rushing yards, 10 touchdowns in 2022), he plays a position devalued across the league. It’s not that a running back can’t make an impact — the Giants don’t make the playoffs without Barkley doing what he did last year — it’s just not nearly as valuable as other spots. That’s why, for the most part, the teams who invest in running backs are those who already have everything else (see the 49ers' trade for McCaffrey), or a quarterback on a rookie contract (influx of money to spend elsewhere).

The Giants do not have anything else. Their playoff-eliminating loss to the Eagles showed how far they are from truly being one of the NFC’s best. They also do not have a quarterback on a rookie contract after Jones inked his extension.

Paying Barkley big money now doesn’t seem like a very smart business decision. Especially when the Giants would be bidding against themselves.

Packers Pro-Bowler Aaron Jones took a $5 million pay cut this offseason. No team has realistically pursued the Chargers’ Austin Eckler. The top three backs on the free agent market signed for pennies on the dollar — Carolina’s Miles Sanders (four years, $25 million), Detroit’s David Montgomery (three years, $18 million), and New Orleans’ Jamaal Williams (three years, $12 million).

While Schoen said the deterioration of the market hasn’t impacted what he’d be willing to pay Barkley … it should. There’s a notion that running backs are a dime a dozen. The NFL is operating as if that’s a fact.

Separating emotion from decision making is a general manager’s job. Failure to do so leads to wholesale roster trouble. Schoen admitted the "human element" is still something he struggles with, but his shrewd stance in these Barkley negotiations shows he’s approaching this the right way.

Co-owner John Mara said at the NFL’s annual meeting that he would like Barkley to spend his entire career with the Giants. The Giants drafted Barkley second overall. In that time he’s had on-field success, been everything this team could have wanted off it, a leader, and the face of the franchise.

Players like that generally receive blank checks. The Giants handed out a few themselves over the years. It’s clear that Schoen is doing things differently. Good.

It’s not smart business to pay running backs.

So it sure looks like Schoen won’t.

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