Saquon Barkley has given an honest take on his contract situation with the New York Giants after being given a franchise tag.
The Giants placed the franchise tag on Barkley, but the running back has opted not to sign it as things stand. This decision came after the NFC East team handed quarterback Daniel Jones a contract extension worth $160million (£130m) over four years in the NFL.
Barkley was reported to be unhappy over being given the franchise tag, but still has until July 17 to get a deal agreed. However, until a contract is signed, the 26-year-old is unable to take part in an organised team activities (OTA) or mandatory minicamps, which are due to begin this week.
Should Barkley sign his franchise tag then he would earn $10.1m (£8.1m) in the 2023 season. And now the running back has spoken about the chances of him returning to the Giants this off-season.
When asked by ESPN about his thoughts on signing a deal with the Giants, he replied: "I don't know. I don't know”. Barkley added: "I think they're open to talking. I'm open to talking.
"I think at the end of the day, if you really break it down and look at it as a whole, there is no rush. There is still time on the table to get to July 17. July 17 is not tomorrow. It's not in a week. That is how I look at it.
“Maybe that is the naïve way to look at it, I could be completely wrong. But for me, that's how I look at it. I could be completely wrong. Hopefully. I trust in the Giants that we could get something done."
ESPN also claims that Barkley is prepared to “sit out” the forthcoming season if nothing gets agreed by July 17. "That comes up in the conversation if something doesn't get done by July 17,” Barkley said.
He later added: "At the end of the day, it's all about respect. That is really what it is. Me getting tagged, was I upset about it? Nobody wants to get tagged.
"To sit here and say I was frustrated, I was mad, I was upset, what really got me upset was the stories that got leaked out and how misleading they were and how untruthful they were.
"I feel it was trying to paint a narrative of me, paint a picture of me that is not even true. Not even close to being the truth."
Giants head coach Brian Daboll recently spoke to reporters after an OTA and was asked about Barkley not being in attendance. Daboll made the point of not getting into too much detail of the current situation with regard to his running back’s future.
“We have really good attendance,” said Daboll last month “There will be some guys working their rehab stuff, and throughout practice each of those guys are kind of at different stages.
“Just trying to get them as healthy as we can. I'm not going to get into specifics of any of them. I would say with Saquon, that situation is going to be between Saquon and the organization. I'm not going to get into detail of any of the discussions we've had.”
