NEW YORK — The ideal time for Saquon Barkley to get his preferred contract extension, to leverage his talent, to hold out, would have been after the 2020 NFL season.
A resurgent third season, if he’d bounced back to the level of his impressive 2018 rookie year, probably wouldn’t have made it difficult for Barkley to sway a Giants franchise led by the GM that drafted him No. 2 overall.
But Barkley tore his right ACL in Week 2 and missed almost the entire 2020 season. He badly sprained his left ankle in Week 5 of the 2021 season and was barely a factor that year, too.