It’s been a rough week for Giants running back Saquon Barkley. Or, should we just say “running back Saquon Barkley” for the time being?
The deadline for players designated under the franchise tag to negotiate a multi-year deal with their team was July 17th at 4 pm ET. New York and Barkley’s camp let that deadline pass without a deal being struck. Barkley then tweeted that “It is what it is,” but he’s got a decision to make.
Should he suit up and play under the franchise tag despite not wanting to, or should he sit out and miss games as a form of protest (and a way to say F**k you to the Giants)? Ahead of that deadline passing, it seemed like he was unsure of what he would do if put in that situation.
We still don’t know what he’ll do at this time. All we know is he’s probably not showing up for the start of Giants training camp. But in the meantime, he’s taking a page out of Jets defensive tackle Quinnen Williams’ playbook by editing his social media profile bios.
𝗨𝗽𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗲: Saquon Barkley removed #Giants from his social media bio.https://t.co/jZwZGyQ5Un pic.twitter.com/Moofo2JVdi
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) July 20, 2023
I guess this is a worthy usage of his time. He’s probably feeling a little hurt about a deal not getting done, so maybe something like this will temporarily make him feel better. We saw Williams do this back in May while his own extension negotiations with the Jets seemed tenuous. But then, he added them back in, and literally about 20 minutes later, news of his finalized deal hit the internet.
It’s not like that move actually helped Williams get the deal he wanted. And that’s definitely not going to be the case for Barkley. The only “leverage” he has left is not playing. That would not only hurt the Giants but also hurt Saquon’s pockets and potentially the remainder of his career.
We’ll see how this eventually plays out in the coming weeks. But, the Giants expect their running back to play. Here’s what ESPN’s Jeff Darlington said about the topic on a Thursday edition of Sportcenter (h/t Bleacher Report):
Saquon has essentially said that he’s considering a holdout. He has to decide whether he’s going to play or not. The Giants do expect him to play because they don’t expect him to give up the money. We’ve seen how it worked out with Le’Veon Bell. Saquon Barkley, though, we have to take him seriously to this point for his word. I don’t necessarily expect to see him at the start of training camp. For Week 1 of the season, though? That is what we have our eyes on the potential prize.
You can reach Matt Musico at matt.musico@xlmedia.com. You can follow him on Twitter: @mmusico8.
