National Football League

Kayvon Thibodeaux: Giants should've paid Saquon Barkley before Daniel Jones

Published Jan. 26, 2024 1:08 p.m. ET

The 2023 NFL season was a disaster for the New York Giants.

Coming off a season that saw them win a playoff game for the first time in 11 years, the Giants followed with a 6-11 campaign, missing the playoffs. Furthermore, the disappointing season came after the franchise committed to quarterback Daniel Jones on a four-year, $160 million deal, while placing the franchise tag on star running back Saquon Barkley, with the two sides later agreeing to a revised one-year deal.

Did the Giants make a mistake in the way they approached last offseason or perhaps the priority they placed on Jones and Barkley? Someone from the inside at least concurs with the latter notion.

While implying that he likes Jones, Giants linebacker Kayvon Thibodeaux expressed that he was "mad" about the team signing Jones to a long-term deal before Barkley.

"If you look at the game, the tape, Saquon was responsible for at least 30 percent of our explosive plays the year we won the playoff game [2022]," Thibodeaux said on the latest edition of "7PM in Brooklyn with Carmelo Anthony & The Kid Mero." "For me and for the integrity of working together, hard work, and we all believe the same things, I feel like Saquon should've got paid first."

Barkley, a two-time Pro Bowler and the 2018 NFL Rookie of the Year, finished the 2022 regular season with 1,312 rushing yards and 10 rushing touchdowns on 4.4 yards per carry. He also logged 338 receiving yards.

In what was his fourth season as the team's full-time starter, Jones finished with a career-high in passing yards (3,205), passer rating (92.5), completion percentage (67.2%), rushing yards (708) and rushing touchdowns (seven) under first-year head coach Brian Daboll.

New York was blown out at home by the Dallas Cowboys in Week 1, 40-0, setting the tone for an ugly season. To boot, Jones missed three starts due to a neck injury and then suffered a torn ACL in Week 9; he's questionable to be ready for Week 1 of the 2024 NFL season.

The Giants are a combined 22-36-1 with Jones under center (2019-23).

Thibodeaux, whom the Giants selected with the No. 5 overall pick in the 2022 NFL Draft out of Oregon, posted just four sacks in his rookie season, but he followed it up with an 11.5-sack 2023 campaign that also saw him force three fumbles.

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