Decision time approaching for Saquon Barkley, Giants

Saquon Barkley can go home.

He was the star attraction last week at a youth football camp in his hometown of Whitehall, Pennsylvania. The camp was held at Zephyr Stadium, where Barkley played his high school football. He is mayor-in-waiting-beloved there. And last week was no different.

Those youngsters don’t care about a franchise tag. He was the star attraction as the four-day camp wrapped on Thursday. Of course, Barkley delivered.

“He’s so good with the kids,” said Justin Kondikoff, a longtime member of the Whitehall football staff. “So, so good.”

Barkley is celebrated in his hometown, of course.

“The memories here are special,” he said at the camp, according to PA Football News. “To be able to come back to the community where I’m from, in the community that helped mold me into the man I am today [is meaningful]. Hopefully I can do the same thing to instill some confidence into these kids and just try to give the best advice I can.”

He told the campers: “With work ethic, determination and a hard-working mindset, anything is possible.”

If only Barkley’s current situation were so simple.

Barkley was given the franchise tag by the Giants after the team came to terms on a long-term contract with quarterback Daniel Jones. One of the two players was going to be tagged; Jones’ new deal cleared the way for it to be Barkley. Jones’ four-year, $160 million contract includes $82 million guaranteed.

The franchise tag the Giants placed on Barkley would pay him $10.1 million for the 2023 season — if Barkley signs the tender. The deadline for a deal is 4 p.m. Monday.

If no deal is reached, Barkley will have to decide whether to play the 2023 season on the tag or sit out. Sitting out seems like an unlikely option; he could wait until the start of the regular season to report.

In some ways, it’s hard to believe this situation has reached this point. Barkley has been the model teammate, voted a captain for each of the last four years. He’s a spokesman in the locker room, a steadying influence on the field. He also has been Jones’ biggest advocate, particularly at times when the quarterback did not engender mass support outside of the Giants’ facility.

Barkley is coming off his best season, having amassed 1,312 yards on the ground. He was the fourth-leading rusher in the league.

In three of his five seasons, he has eclipsed the 1,000-yard mark.

And yet it has come to this.

In a move that could be viewed as progress toward a compromise, Barkley recently amended his representation, a decision that began to come to light just after his Jersey City youth football camp on June 12. Barkley added Ed Berry of CAA to his football representation, joining Roc Nation. Berry and CAA already were orchestrating Barkley’s marketing opportunities.

Whether that decision turned out to be a needle-mover is something we may learn as time goes by.

Although Barkley has stayed away from the Giants’ facility, he has interacted with teammates.

On a late June day, he and Jones got together to play catch on a New Jersey high school field. (No Giant caught more passes from Jones last season than Barkley’s 57.) When they attracted a group of young baseball players, the two signed autographs and posed for pictures.

When Jones was asked in June about Barkley’s contract impasse, the quarterback gave an expected reply.

“I’m going to let Saquon speak for himself on that,” he said. “I’ve said what I think of him as a player, as a teammate. That’s certainly still the case and I’m supporting him and I’m here for him as a teammate and as a friend.”

In looking back now, Giants general manager Joe Schoen did give clues that he wasn’t going to back up the truck when it came to Barkley’s contract situation.

It was just after the 2022 season ended.

Asked about Jones in a news conference, Schoen said, “We would like to have Daniel Jones back.”

Short, sweet and to the point.

Schoen, asked about Barkley in the same news conference: “Listen, Saquon has done everything we’ve asked him to do, and he’s a good football player. Again, the positional value — we’ll get into how we want to build this team and allocate our resources. That’s what it comes down to. Again, he’s a good football player. He was durable for us this year; he played well. And again, he’s a guy that we would like to have back.”

The difference in Schoen’s responses was clear. The signs were there.

The question now is, will Barkley and the Giants find common ground by Monday’s deadline?

The clock is ticking.

By Kimberly Jones

kimberly.jones@newsday.comkimjonessports

Kimberly Jones covers the Giants for Newsday, a beat she first worked in the early 2000s before joining the YES Network to cover the Yankees. She worked for the NFL Network for more than a decade and has been heard semi-regularly on WFAN.