Giants running back Saquon Barkley could be on the move this offseason as he enters the fourth year of his rookie contract. While there are no hard rumors or reports about his eventual destination, Pro Football Focus floated the 49ers as a potential landing spot for the former No. 2 overall pick. The problem with connecting Barkley to San Francisco is that such a move would run counter to virtually everything the 49ers have done with their backfield since Kyle Shanahan became the head coach in 2017.
There are two financial issues that would likely keep San Francisco from making a move two acquire Barkley — one short-term and one long-term.
In the short-term he’s expensive. The fourth year of Barkley’s rookie contract carries a $7.2 million salary cap hit. The 49ers could do some minor cap gymnastics to fit his contract in, but it might come at the expense of some other positions of need.
Not to mention that $7.2 million cap number for Barkley would nearly match what the 49ers spent on their entire running backs room last year. Raheem Mostert, Jeff Wilson Jr., Elijah Mitchell, JaMycal Hasty, Trey Sermon and Trenton Cannon carried a combined $8.7 million cap hit. Mostert’s $3.6 million was the largest of that group. San Francisco and Shanahan are capable of having a productive backfield without spending big money on one player, especially in an offseason where they won’t have an abundance of cap space.
The long-term factor comes in with Barkley now eligible for an extension. Injuries have likely dampened Barkley’s value some, but there’s a chance he doesn’t play without a longer term guarantee beyond 2022. Unless he’s willing to take an exceedingly cheap deal that falls closer to something like $3 million or $4 million per year, San Francisco wouldn’t likely be very interested even with the salary cap set to spike in 2023.
With extensions on the table for Nick Bosa and Deebo Samuel, it’s hard to imagine the 49ers also setting aside room for a running back that’s dealt with injuries in each of the last two seasons.
All of those signs point to the 49ers not being in the mix to add Barkley, and it tracks with where they’re at as an organization. They’d need to unload draft compensation to get an expensive player at a position where they’ve had success spending relatively little money. Barkley’s talent would no doubt be a great fit with the 49ers, but don’t expect them to be significant players in his trade market.
