If we are to assign winners and losers of this Saquon Barkley ordeal, obviously you would now pick the Giants as a victor. Barkley, a source confirmed, signed a one-year deal worth $11 million Tuesday morning. This was, essentially, a $2 million up-front payment on the franchise tag salary he was already slated to receive, plus roughly $900,000 in incentive payments. The source also confirmed that the new deal offers no protections for Barkley against being franchise-tagged again in 2024.
The incentive payments are somewhat difficult to reach and, as first reported by The Record, require Barkley to rush for more than 1,300 yards, make the playoffs, catch 65 balls and score 11 touchdowns. This is, of course, the kind of workload a 26-year-old running back with an injury history and a high usage rate already would incur and make him less desirable on the open market the following year. But all indications are that Barkley wanted to report to camp on time, and his personal financial goals could be different from yours or mine.
Barkley’s “win” was to get the Giants to massage the finances of a standard franchise-tag payout and give him the chance to earn slightly more, even if reaching all of those incentives seems unlikely (the Giants’ schedule, for one, is quite difficult). You’d have to go back almost two decades to find a team willing to draw up new paperwork at the last minute on a franchise-tag negotiation like this and present its player with some other options.
