Saquon Barkley reportedly won’t sign his franchise tag, and therefore won’t be at Giants’ voluntary offseason workouts beginning next week.
How long could the 1,000-yard rusher hold out? Gio pointed back to Le’Veon Bell, who saw his Steelers career end over a refusal to play under the tag while seeking a long-term contract, though it didn’t work out well for Bell at all.
But Barkley was everything the Giants could have hoped for last season, though they needed to secure a new contract with Daniel Jones first, to ensure their quarterback would return next season after a career year.
“For a guy, he came back last year, was as healthy as he’s been since his rookie season, was the main part of the Giants offense,” Gio said. “Was the 2022 [Walter Payton] Man of the Year nominee for the Giants.”
But, as Boomer pointed out, this is the nature of how running backs are treated in today’s NFL, and Barkley likely won’t be an exception, regardless of what he has done for the Giants.
“None of that matters,” Boomer said. “He plays a position that unfortunately tells every single team out there that you can only pay so much for what he does…it’s an unfair system when it comes to running backs. That’s just the way it is. That’s the reality of it.
“Do I believe he deserves to be paid? I do, but I also know the expectations of the running back have gone by the wayside with the exception to the Ezekiel Elliot and Derrick Henry contracts…it’s just the way the business has been run over the last 10 years and how they’ve devalued the position.”
But, Boomer also added that he doesn’t see Barkley’s holdout becoming a problem anything like what brought Bell to the Jets after his feud in Pittsburgh.
“Right now, this to me is not a big deal,” Boomer said. “It happens to guys quite a bit who are under the tag.”
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