Daniel Jones, Saquon Barkley and the Giants' franchise tag conundrum
Daniel Jones and Saquon Barkley of the New York Giants. Credit: Jim McIsaac
Immediately after the season ended general manager, Joe Schoen made it clear he wanted Daniel Jones and Saquon Barkley to be back with the Giants. A month later, he is still trying to navigate how that may happen . . . and, increasingly, if it will.
With both of the centerpieces of the offense about to become free agents, neither has agreed to a new contract with the team. Negotiations that began with Barkley during the season have not made much progress, and Jones changed agents last week in what many see as an aggressive attempt to land a much larger payday than initially was being discussed.
Tuesday opened the window for the Giants to employ the franchise tag on either of them, but not both because teams can use it only once per season. Such a solution would come with its own perils of guaranteed money against the salary cap that would impact the team’s ability to spend once free agency begins on March 15. The Giants have about $46 million in cap space this offseason. Tagging Barkley would eat up $10 million of that budget. Tagging Jones would cost them $32 million.
The Giants would prefer to not tag either and get long-term deals done that could spread their salaries and bonuses over a number of years to reduce the immediate salary-cap hit, but not at the expense of potentially losing both as unrestricted free agents. The deadline to use the franchise tag is March 7, which gives the Giants two weeks to try to get at least one, if not both, of the contracts finished.
The Giants knew this moment would be a possibility when they entered the 2022 season with both players on the final year of their rookie contracts. The Giants declined the fifth-year option on Jones, which would have locked him in for the 2023 season at around $22.4 million, with the understanding that if he showed he can be the franchise quarterback moving forward it would add another $10 million or so to his cost. They also wanted to see how Barkley rebounded in his second season after ACL surgery.
Jones had his most productive season as a pro, Barkley set a career high in rushing yardage, neither missed a game because of injury, and the Giants won a playoff game for the first time in a decade. It was the best-case scenario for the Giants in terms of football, but it has made the financial side of things tricky. Beyond those two, the Giants also are eying extensions for other young cornerstone players in Andrew Thomas, Dexter Lawrence and Xavier McKinney. There is no deadline for those deals to be made. They can come after the initial waves of free agency or even once the season begins in the fall. But signing them to longer-term second contracts now will help avoid sticky situations in which the Giants currently find themselves down the road.
Coaching staff update
Mike Kafka and Wink Martindale were finalists for head coaching jobs around the league but will remain with the Giants as offensive and defensive coordinator, respectively, now that the hiring cycle has ended. The Giants will have some potential changes on their staff, however. Running backs coach DeAndre Smith is expected to take a position with the Colts and assistant special teams coordinator Anthony Blevins will interview with the Browns for their coordinator job.
Hodgins returns
The Giants last week signed WR Isaiah Hodgins, TE Lawrence Cager and G Jack Anderson, all of whom were due to become exclusive rights free agents next month. Hodgins, who was claimed off waivers from the Bills in November, became one of the team’s top receiving threats in the second half of the season and wound up tied for the team lead in touchdown receptions (4) and third in receiving yardage (351).
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.
