During his end-of-season press conference, Giants GM Joe Schoen said the team would “love” to have Daniel Jones back, but “there’s a business side to it.”
That same notion, apparently, applies to Saquon Barkley, who now becomes a free agent as well.
“He’s done everything we asked him to do and he’s a good football player,” Schoen said of Barkley Monday. “We’ll get into how we want to build this team and allocate our resources, but he was a good player, durable, and played well, and he’s a guy we’d like to have back.”
The Giants approached Barkley about a possible long-term deal during their bye week a couple months back, but Schoen admitted the two sides “weren’t really that close” on terms, as the two sides were “way off on the value.”
Now, however, the Giants’ pool of cap space is officially out there, and there are several other unrestricted free agents and/or possibly others in line for extensions, so it’s going to come down to that business, and how Big Blue decides to allocate resources.
“This was a special team and we’d like to have all the guys back, but there’s a business side to it and a salary cap,” Schoen said. “Like I said, Saquon is a good player and a great teammate, and he’s a guy we’d like to have back, but we haven’t had our end-of-season meetings yet. Everyone will step back, take emotion out, evaluate the roster, and divvy up our salary cap and make our plan.”
Barkley set career highs in rushes and rushing yards, and played in all 16 games for the first time since his rookie year – but beyond that, what Schoen values most about Barkley is his character, as both Schoen and Brian Daboll mentioned multiple times Monday that culture is just as important as talent.
“If (character) wasn’t important and wasn’t there, we probably wouldn’t be approaching him,” Schoen said of Barkley. “If you’re a culture fit, we go to those players, but it’s hard to put a value on it. You can look at yards, touchdowns, games played…those are markers we can establish value on, but we wouldn’t look to sign a guy if he doesn’t fit our culture.”
And, wherever the money goes, Schoen understands that a long-term deal for a running back – or anyone, really – is a gamble just because of the nature of the game.
“I wouldn’t say all of them haven’t panned out,” Schoen said when asked about how second contracts for running backs in recent NFL history have been mostly busts, “but there’s a risk to any big contract, because anyone can get hurt at any time. It’s risk/reward.”
The one thing working in Saquon’s favor: they know more about him than any other team does, and know more about him than any other free agent running back.
“When you extend people in-house, you know their work ethic, how they train, their injury history, everything,” Schoen said. “It eliminates some margin for error as a known commodity.”
Unfortunately, even though the Giants have turned the page to next season, Monday was really Day 1 of that endeavor, and the Giants will begin their player meetings later this week to try to figure it all out.
“We haven’t discussed that yet,” Schoen said when asked about 2023 roster ideas. “We had exit meetings yesterday, and we’re working on calendars now.”
Follow Lou DiPietro on Twitter: @LouDiPietroWFAN
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