Saquon Barkley's future with Giants still uncertain
Giants running back Saquon Barkley speaks to the media on Sunday, Jan. 22, 2023, in East Rutherford. Credit: Corey Sipkin
On Monday, Giants general manager Joe Schoen provided clarity on his quarterback’s future, saying, “We would like to have Daniel Jones back.”
Schoen was a bit less definitive when it comes to running back Saquon Barkley.
“Listen, Saquon has done everything we’ve asked him to do,” Schoen said. “And again, he’s a guy that we would like to have back.”
The question is, at what price?
During the Giants’ bye week in November, the Barkley camp and the Giants discussed a contract extension. The Giants’ number was about 12 million per year. The Barkley camp was seeking more than that.
“We had productive conversations,” Schoen said. “We were off on the value. We said we would circle back up at the end of the season and continue those conversations, but at that time of year, we weren’t really that close.”
Barkley has told Newsday on several occasions that he wants to remain a Giant and wants to continue playing alongside Jones. The running back and quarterback are close friends.
Asked Saturday night if he might have played his last game for the Giants, he said: “I can’t envision that being my last time in a Giants uniform. But like I said, all that stuff is out of my control. That’s a conversation. That’s why you have an agent, and I have an unbelievable agent. Sometime this week sit down with [Kim Miale], sit down with my family and see what’s up.”
In the playoff victory over the Vikings, Barkley carried nine times for 53 yards and a touchdown. He also had five receptions for 53 yards.
“There is a lot you can take from this season,” he said. “We did a lot of great things, had a lot of success. I feel like the foundation was laid. We’ve got the right guys, competitive guys. We’ve got the right coaches, Just came up short. That’s life. You have to learn from it and build on it.”
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.
