What might Saquon Barkley’s next contract look like?
New York Giants running back Saquon Barkley told reporters following Saturday’s 38-7 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC Divisional Round that he’s not looking to reset the market for RBs.
What we do know, however, is the range Barkley’s agent is likely looking for.
Fox Sports’ Ralph Vacchiano reported on Monday that Barkley turned down a contract offer from the Giants during the bye week that would have paid him approximately $12M per season.
"I’ve got to sit down and talk to (my agent) Kim (Miala) and figure out the numbers and figure out everything," Barkley told reporters. "Obviously, we had that conversation middle of the season about it. But when after the bye, we put that to rest. That conversation will come up pretty soon."
While he may not be looking to “reset” the market, only six running backs in the NFL make more per year than the contract Barkley turned down — Christian McCaffrey ($16M), Ezekiel Elliott ($15M), Alvin Kamara ($15M), Dalvin Cook ($12.6M), Derrick Henry ($12.5M) and Nick Chubb ($12.2M).
"He's done everything we've asked him to do and he's a good football player," Giants GM Joe Schoen said of Barkley, via CBS Sports. "The positional value…we'll get into how we want to build this team and allocate our resources, and that's what it comes down to. Again, he's a good football player, he was durable for us this year, he played well, and again he's a guy that we'd like to have back."
Barkley’s projected market value according to Spotrac is $12.3M per year.
While considerably high for an oft-injured running back, it’s certainly not out of the question for the Giants, who are projected to have a little more than $45M in cap space in 2023 according to Spotrac, to bring Barkley back.
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