Free agent-to-be Saquon Barkley hopes to be a Giant in 2023
Giants running back Saquon Barkley on the bench near the end of the NFC divisional playoff game against the Eagles on Saturday in Philadelphia Credit: Newsday/J. Conrad Williams Jr.
PHILADELPHIA — “I can’t envision that being my last time in a Giants uniform,” Saquon Barkley said late Saturday night after taking off his uniform for the last time this season.
But he acknowledged after the Giants’ 38-7 loss to the Eagles in an NFC Divisional playoff game that that is far from a certainty.
Barkley is a free agent-to-be, and though he had a good season, the market value for a soon-to-be 26-year-old running back with five NFL seasons and an injury history on his resume can be tricky.
He said he will meet with his agent, Kim Miale, in the coming days, talk to his family and eventually meet with the Giants’ front office to sort things out.
The Giants have options, including keeping him by using a franchise tag, but such decisions will unfold in the coming weeks and perhaps months.
“I’ve been vocal about how I feel and where I want to be,” Barkley said. “That’s outside my control. I wanted to show the Giants the guy they drafted [No. 2 overall in 2018] is still here. I hope I did that.
“Everyone knows I would love to be a Giant for life, but I really can’t give 100% answers.”
Barkley was more productive early in the season than he was down the stretch, and he went out with a mostly quiet night — along with the rest of the offense.
He had nine rushes for 61 yards, 39 of which came on a single run to set up the Giants’ lone touchdown. On his other eight runs, he totaled 22 yards.
Other than that, he caught two passes for 21 yards and handed off to Matt Breida on an option play off a direct snap for the Giants’ lone touchdown.
In the previous week’s victory over the Vikings, he ran nine times for 53 yards and two touchdowns and caught five passes for 56 yards.
In the regular season, Barkley had career highs in rushing attempts (295) and rushing yards (1,312). He ran for 10 touchdowns, just one fewer than the 11 he had as a rookie in 2018.
Barkley had 57 receptions this season for 338 yards but no touchdowns. That’s well off his career highs of 91 catches for 721 yards and four touchdowns in his rookie season.
In that rookie season, he led the league in yards from scrimmage with 2,028. He had 1,650 yards from scrimmage this season.
One of the most encouraging things is that Barkley started each of the first 16 games in 2022 before sitting out the meaningless regular-season finale.
Barkley praised the Eagles lavishly, saying they are the No. 1 seed in the NFC field for a reason. But as was evident in a losing locker room full of hugs and optimism for the future, he was able to see the bright side even on a gloomy night.
“It’s a fun team,” he said. “It was special. Obviously, it didn’t end how we would want it to end. But not just because of the record or because we made it to the playoffs; it’s probably one of my favorite teams of all time.
“That’s a sad thing about the NFL. No matter what, the locker room is not going to be exactly the same next year. Just happy to be able to go out there with all these guys and lay it on the line and compete with them. It’s a special bunch, I’ll tell you that.”
The question now is whether Barkley will be one of the bunch next season. He said he hopes not only to be back himself but to keep as much of the old gang together as possible.
“I feel like if the majority of guys are able to come back next year, we will have the experience,” he said. “It will be our second year within this offense and as you can see, we got better throughout the season.
“So with a whole ’nother offseason and a whole ’nother year under our belt, I feel like the sky can be the limit for us.”
Neil Best first worked at Newsday in 1982, returned in 1985 after a detour to Alaska and has been here since, specializing in high schools, college basketball, the NFL and most recently sports media and business.
