Latest On Giants, Saquon Barkley
The Giants were able to beat the franchise tag deadline by minutes and sign quarterback Daniel Jones to a long-term contract. This allowed them to place the franchise tag on Running Back Saquon Barkleywho guarantees that he will stay in New York in 2023, but leaves his future in doubt beyond that.
Barkley, 26, is set to make $10.1 million this season playing on the day. He and the Giants have to agree on a multi-year extension by mid-July, but the market hasn’t lent itself to big-money contracts for running backs so far. Against this background, it remains to be seen whether progress will be made in resuming contract negotiations in the coming weeks. 
“At the moment there is no pending offer.” Giant GM Joe Nice said at the league meetings about ESPN’s Dan Graziano. “As soon as we gave it the franchise label, we resigned. We knew throughout the negotiation that there would be a time when if we couldn’t come to an agreement, we would go to franchise day, and we did.”
New York initially viewed the former No. 2 pick as a higher priority for a new deal, but later turned their attention to drafting an extension with Jones. The Giants were reportedly poised to hit the $12.5 million-a-year mark with Barkley, but mid-season negotiations didn’t bring much traction for an extension; It emerged earlier this month that an increased supply is unlikely. While they seemed poised to bring the Penn State grad to the open market this year, the team’s goal remains to keep Barkley in the herd for years to come.
“I told Saquon that we want him to remain a giant for his entire career.” owner John Mara called. “The running back market is what it is right now, but I still hope that eventually we’ll settle… I told him how badly I wanted him to be a Giant and play his entire career as a Giant … And I think he would like that too.”
Mara also unsurprisingly admitted that Barkley is unhappy about being tagged. His compensation if he plays on the tag in 2023 will put him in eighth place (with other tag recipients Josh Jacobs And Tony Pollard) among the RB in terms of annual value. Early in the negotiation process, Barkley reportedly had no market-defining deal in mind, even after rushing for a career-high 1,312 rushing yards as the centerpiece of the Giants’ offense in 2022. however, five at the position would not be a surprising goal.
Giants head coach Brian Daboll noted that he hasn’t communicated with Barkley in two weeks and that he’s unsure if the latter will be reaching out to volunteer OTAs next month (Twitter shortcut via Dan Duggan of The Athletic). Barkley’s near-term actions are increasingly becoming a storyline worth following as the offseason drags on with no overtime progress.