The New York Giants and star running back Saquon Barkley could not come to an agreement on a contract extension before the new league year began on March 17 resulting in Barkley being assigned the franchise tag.
The tag, which will pay Barkley a guaranteed $10.1 million this season, can be rescinded at any time by the Giants unless it is accepted by Barkley.
Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk has a piece of advice for Barkley and two other NFL running backs who were tagged this year (Dallas’ Tony Pollard and Las Vegas’ Josh Jacobs).
Take the money.
“Until the (franchise tags) are accepted, they can be rescinded, making the player a free agent,” said Florio.
“If Jacobs and/or Pollard and/or Barkley suddenly become free agents, what would happen? When the top of the 2023 free-agent market at the position is $6.25 million per year, would someone offer $10 million or more?
“What if the Cowboys decide to cut the cord on Pollard and trade for Derrick Henry? He’s due to make $10.5 million this year. (That said, he’s likely looking for a new deal.)
For all three of these players — Jacobs, Pollard, and Barkley — it makes sense to seriously consider taking the bird in the hand. Unless and until they do, any of them could end up foraging for roughly half a bird in the bush.”
The Giants want to keep Barkley in the fold and he wants to be here. It would make sense for the two parties to agree to a multi-year contract, lowering Barkley’s cap hit to reflect the current market.
Let’s say, three years, $26 million with about half guaranteed?
This way, Barkley would get paid basically the same amount if he played under the franchise tag this year and then took a more market-based contract over the next two seasons.
His cap number for 2023 would be about $2-3 million lower and give the Giants some more cap flexibility.
