Giants no longer see Saquon Barkley as more than just a running back
Saquon Barkley of the Giants warms up before a game against the Dallas Cowboys at MetLife Stadium on Sept. 26, 2022. Credit: Jim McIsaac
Steve Tisch sat in the front row of the Giants’ auditorium surrounded by a handful of reporters. Most of the cameras and microphones had gone elsewhere to capture the hubbub from one of the franchise’s most exciting moments in recent memory, the day in April 2018 when Saquon Barkley, selected second overall in the draft the night before, first walked into the team’s facility as a full-fledged member of the organization.
Tisch, co-owner of the team, was as aglow as anyone in the building.
“I think he’s going to be a role model for his generation,” he said that day.
“I think the value he’s going to bring to the Giants on the field and in the locker room is fantastic.”
Barkley certainly didn’t disappoint. It may have taken a little longer than anyone expected, and there were some injuries that stalled the upward trajectory, but he did eventually help turn around a team that was sinking fast when he arrived, poised for an ugly divorce with its superstar receiver and in search of a replacement for its Super Bowl-winning quarterback.
The Giants had to suffer through a pair of failed head-coaching stints and a front-office overhaul, all with Barkley saying the right things, before landing on what seems to be the right direction, with Barkley out front leading the way.
That conversation with Tisch has remained in the ether of the past five seasons — and it definitely has come rushing back in reflection these past few months as the Giants and Barkley have grappled over exactly what he is worth.
In the end, Barkley held up his end of his first contract with the team. He epitomized what the Giants think of themselves and their character. He made a huge positive impact on the field and in the locker room. His became the go-to jersey purchase for kids and old-timers alike, one of the few immediately recognizable and reliable faces of the league and a cornerstone for this new phase of football brimming with promise and potential.
The Giants? As of 4 p.m. on Monday, they officially see him as something he never was before.
To them, he’s now just a running back. The “role model” line on his business cards has been deleted.
That’s the only rationale for why they didn’t pad any of the offers to him over the past 10 or so months in which they have tried to reach a long-term agreement, buck the leaguewide trend of position devaluation and make sure that the most important player on the roster — perhaps the most important employee in the organization — knows he is appreciated, fairly compensated and, as he suggested at his camp earlier this summer, respected.
Putting the franchise tag on Barkley in March was a smart decision. It kept him from hitting the open market and ensured that he would play at least one more season for the Giants. They had a tool and they used it.
Allowing Monday’s deadline to pass without securing Barkley’s future beyond 2023, however, seems like a miscalculation that could affect the delicate balance of a roster the front office and coaches have worked so hard to align with this new culture.
Since the moment Joe Schoen and Brian Daboll arrived, they have asked each and every member of the team to be stand-up men of character, adhere to a high level of citizenship in the community and represent the NY logo with dignity and grace. It was in the job description.
As of Monday, though, they told those same players, not just Barkley, that they won’t get paid a dollar extra for any of it.
How this works itself out will take a few months to untangle. Barkley did pick up the sit-out-the-season bat when he last spoke publicly at that camp in June; whether he is willing to swing it the way Le’Veon Bell did is a different story. It’s more likely that he will spend the next few weeks digesting his lot, sign his franchise tag for a one-year, $10.1 million guaranteed salary in early September and take the field for the Giants this season.
It might not be in Week 1 against Dallas if he isn’t yet in “football shape” or if the Giants are leery of pushing him into action, but he’ll almost certainly be on the field for them in 2023.
At some point during this upcoming campaign, though, the Giants will need Barkley to do what he does best. Not carry a football or catch a pass or juke a defender, all of which he performs at a very high level. They’ll need him to take command of the team. They’ll need him to not just lead but will the Giants to a victory the way he did several times in 2022, put his body and his well-being aside and carry the other 52 players on his back.
They’ll need a role model.
The player Tisch raved about in April 2018, the player we have watched since, wouldn’t have to think twice about doing that. It would be a reflex.
And Barkley will have to decide if he is still willing to be Saquon . . . or just the kind of running back for whom the Giants are willing to pay.
Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.
