Saquon Barkley and the New York Giants failed to reach a deal on a new contract and now the star running back is mulling skipping the 2023 season.
It's about to get ugly with Saquon Barkley and the New York Giants. Or, well, even uglier.
After failed contract negotiations prior to the July 17 deadline for NFL teams to ink an extension with franchise tagged players, the running back world went into a tailspin about the value of the position in the modern NFL. And for Barkley's part, he appears to still be unhappy with how the Giants value him as he does not intend to sign the tag by training camp, thus indicating he'll skip camp without being fined.
But that might not be all he skipped.
In a July 11 episode of "The Money Matters" podcast, Barkley appeared as a guest and addressed the leverage he had with the Giants in negotiations. In that conversation, he offered up a potential nuclear option: Skipping the 2023 season.
"My leverage is I could say, 'F*** you' to the Giants, I could say, 'F*** you to my teammates," Barkley said, via ESPN. "And be like, 'You want me to show you my worth? You want me to show you how valuable I am to the team? I won't show up. I won't play a down.' And that's a play I could use.
"Anybody (who) knows me, knows that's not something I want to do. Is it something that's crossed my mind? I never thought I would ever do that, but now I'm at a point where I'm like, 'Jesus, I might have to take it to this level.' Am I prepared to take it to this level? I don't know."
That would definitely send a message, without question.
Giants RB Saquon Barkley on skipping 2023 season: 'I might have to'
Barkley's plan would be eerily similar to what happened with Le'Veon Bell and the Pittsburgh Steelers back at the 2018 season. In that instance, the Steelers placed the tag on Bell for the second straight year with him issuing a warning that, if the franchise did that, he would not play, a threat he backed up ultimately.
At the same time, though, Bell recently admitted regretting that decision and even apologized to Pittsburgh fans. That's an interesting wrinkle given Barkley's threats.
It's certainly worth reiterating that Barkley made these comments a little less than week before the franchise tag deadline. There is at least a marginal chance that his feelings have changed. While that's possible, the situation he appeared to be describing with the Giants not appreciating his value seemingly is exactly what played out with the way negotiations transpired.
Barkley has already indicated that he'll miss training camp. Now we'll have to see if he makes good on the threat to miss actual games and skip the 2023 season by not signing the franchise tag.
