Saquon Barkley takes one for the team by signing one-year deal with Giants
New York Giants running back Saquon Barkley walks across the field before an NFL wild-card football game against the Minnesota Vikings, Sunday, Jan. 15, 2023, in Minneapolis. Credit: AP/Abbie Parr
The big plays have always come easily for Saquon Barkley. Long runs, leaping over defenders, making his way through a secondary with the jukes of a belly dancer and the legs of a rhinoceros, these are the things that make Barkley a special football player. They are what the Giants have always loved to watch him do.
But all throughout his career they have also been trying to get him to understand that not every swing has to be for the fences. There is a benefit to taking what you can get. Sometimes it’s important to just run, take a short gain, and move on. One of his (several) head coaches with the team called those “dirty yards,” the ones between the tackles for minimal progress that don’t make it to the highlight reel but help push the chains, help soften a defense. Help the team.
Getting him to accept that idea took some time. Years, in fact. He often bristled at the idea, as if it was an insult to his machismo or desire, but It wasn’t until last season that he began to show a willingness to be a more direct north-south runner. It made him a better player. It made the Giants a playoff team.
On Tuesday, Barkley agreed to terms on a one-year contract with the Giants. It wasn’t a home run deal. It’s barely more than what the Giants were required to pay him in March when they first used the franchise tag on him, and every dime above that $10.091 million threshold is tied to performance-based bonuses. It’s certainly less than the terms the two sides were inching toward last week before the deadline for a long-term agreement came and went. The Giants didn’t even agree to not use the franchise tag on him again next season. They didn’t have to since they had all of the leverage.
There was no room for Barkley, with all his talent and elusiveness, to outrun or outmaneuver this financial tackle.
So he did what he needed to do, for himself and for the team.
He took the dirty yards.
Getting $2 million of the $10.091 up front as a signing bonus helps, but it won’t increase the total amount he’s paid (although there are tax implications that can make that first $2 million more valuable now than if he took it doled out through the season). His incentives are reportedly based on rushing yardage (1,350), touchdowns (11) and receptions (65), but none of them will be triggered unless the Giants make the playoffs.
If he achieves all of those stats, the Giants’ playoff chances are much better. They’ll gladly pay the extra $909,000 for a return to the postseason. But they are still the third-best team in the division on paper, even if they closed the margin a bit this offseason.
But what this deal accomplishes gives both the Giants and Barkley something money cannot buy.
There won’t be 89 of the 90 reporting to training camp Tuesday. There won’t be endless questions and speculations about the star running back. There won’t be worries and drama over when Barkley decides to show up or even if he would have decided to show up.
Barkley doesn’t have to make any hard decisions about whether or not he’ll play. He’s in.
And the Giants have no overarching drama, at least to open their summer.
Where it all goes from there is anyone’s guess.
Barkley may have to go through the whole franchise tag process again next offseason. But he might also be able to land the long-term deal he’s always coveted, even if it comes on a third contract rather than the second. Perhaps the league-wide running back market will fluctuate back in the players’ favor by then. Maybe Barkley will have the type of season that proves he is worth transcending those numbers.
He may flounder, too. It’s not what the Giants are hoping for, but in that case they will at least look smart for not investing multiple years and many more millions in him than they needed to.
All of those many possibilities will be there for the next play.
Maybe that one will make the highlight reel in some fashion.
On this one, Barkley just put his head down, took the hit, and barely made it back to the line of scrimmage. Any gain made wasn’t measurable in yards or dollars.
But he’ll get up and play the next snap. Over the years with the Giants, Barkley has shown that when he does that, anything is possible.
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.
