National Football League

Saquon Barkley might soon become a luxury Giants can't afford

Updated Mar. 8, 2023 6:53 p.m. ET

Over three weeks of constant negotiations that general manager Joe Schoen said were sometimes "a little dicey," the Giants slowly moved out of their comfort zone with quarterback Daniel Jones. Little by little, they gave in to his demands a little bit more than expected.

They were willing to do that — increase their investment and their risk — because they believe he's that important to their long-term future.

For running back Saquon Barkley, though, the feeling is just not the same.

Like it or not, fair or not, that's just the reality of the position Barkley plays and the current state of the Giants' franchise. He's a spectacular player when he's healthy — one of the best and most exciting running backs in the NFL. He's so good as a weapon, not just a running back, that he could be the kind of player that puts a real Super Bowl contender over the top.

[Daniel Jones must make good on Giants' huge investment]

But for a team like the Giants that's still rebuilding, despite their surprise playoff appearance last season, Barkley is more of a luxury than a missing piece or even a necessity. And if they have to pay him much more than the $10.1 million franchise tag they used on him on Tuesday, he'll become a luxury they really can't afford.

"We love Saquon," Schoen said on Wednesday. "He's a good teammate. He's a captain. He's a hell of a player. As we build the team and continue with our offseason plan, we'll do what's best for the team. We're still mapping that out."

Right now, the map shows a "line in the sand" the Giants aren't willing to cross. They offered him a contract worth about $12.5 million per season during the bye week, according to a source, and that offer hasn't changed all that much since then. Barkley, at the time, was looking for something closer to $16 million per season, another source said. And while he's since dropped his asking price, still he hasn't quite gotten into the Giants' range.

But he'll have to if he wants a longer deal because he doesn't have the same leverage that Jones had. Jones went into his negotiations asking for more than $45 million per year because he knew that's what franchise quarterbacks get paid, that the $32.4 million franchise tag would be too pricey, and that the Giants would be in trouble without him. He used that leverage right up until the final minutes on Tuesday and walked out with a four-year, $160 million deal that will pay him a guaranteed $82 million in his first two years.

Barkley's leverage is non-existent because running backs are replaceable, the franchise tag is reasonable, and the truth is that as good as he's been, he's never quite lived up to the "gold jacket" expectations former Giants general manager Dave Gettleman placed on him when he took him second overall in the 2018 draft. Plus, Schoen, according to many NFL people who know him, doesn't value running backs the same way that Gettleman did.

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The SPEAK crew debate on whether Daniel Jones was overpaid or not by the Giants.

And while the GM said he wants to sign Barkley to a new contract so he could lower his cap hit for 2023 and give the Giants a few more million dollars to spend in free agency — and some in the organization think it could even happen before free agency starts — no one thinks Schoen will break John Mara's bank to do it. There are too many holes to fill on the Giants' roster to make any kind of lucrative commitment in Barkley — not when he's still an injury risk, and not when running backs are so relatively easy to find.

Besides, as talented as Barkley, he's not the one who carried the Giants' offense last season. That was Jones. Barkley was terrific in his comeback season, rushing for 1,312 yards and 10 touchdowns, while catching 57 passes for 338 yards. But he had just four 100-yard rushing games — none after mid-November. His best receiving day was in the playoff win in Minnesota when he had five catches for 56 yards.

That's all still good, but more than $12.5 million per year good? That's a hard argument to make, especially for a player who had his three previous seasons ruined by a torn ACL and ankle injuries and battled a shoulder injury last season. Maybe the risk would be worth it if the Giants' offense was in better shape. But they still don't have No. 1 or 2 receiver. There's still a huge question mark at tight end. And they still need at least two interior offensive linemen to help drag that unit out of the mediocre-at-best range.

They can't commit tons of money to Barkley when they need money for all of that. And if that means they lose Barkley in the next year or two, that's a chance they'll have to take. They can hedge their bets by finding a running back in what is considered to be a deep class at the position in this year's draft. There's a long history of good, non-first-round running backs. Just last year, Breece Hall (Jets), Kenneth Walker (Seahawks), and James Cook (Bills) were all second-rounders. The Commanders found Brian Robinson in the third round. The Texans got Dameon Pierce in the fourth.

Bad deal by the Giants?

Colin Cowherd questions the Daniel Jones contract despite coming off a good year under first-year coach Brian Daboll.

Quarterbacks are different. They're much harder to find. And while teams can survive without top running backs, teams with no quarterback have no chance. It's why the Giants went as high as they did with Jones. And even then, they hedged their bets slightly with an incentive-laden deal. The details, as FOX Sports confirmed, show it's really worth $112.5 million over three years and the Giants can get out of it if they wanted to after two years.

But if Jones plays well he'll be worth every penny, because if the Giants didn't pay him, their search for a viable replacement could have lasted years.

It's just not the same with running backs. Their shelf-life is often short. And there are good ones everywhere, and more coming out of college every year.

None of that is to say Barkley isn't worth a limited investment — and the $12.5 million per year they offered would still make him the fifth highest-paid running back in the league. He's still a terrific player. He still has value. He can still help the Giants win.

But they're better off saving their big, long-term investments for players like defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence and left tackle Andrew Thomas. They are right to have strict limits to how much they're willing to invest in a risky player at a risky position, and the franchise tag is a reasonable line.

It just doesn't make sense to gamble on a running back much more than that.

Ralph Vacchiano is the NFC East reporter for FOX Sports, covering the Washington Commanders, Philadelphia Eagles and New York Giants. He spent the previous six years covering the Giants and Jets for SNY TV in New York, and before that, 16 years covering the Giants and the NFL for the New York Daily News. Follow him Twitter at @RalphVacchiano.

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