Giants' John Mara, Joe Schoen talk future of Saquon Barkley

New York Giants co-owner John Mara and general manager Joe Schoen have addressed the future of star running back Saquon Barkley.

"I told Saquon we want him to be a Giant for his entire career," Mara told reporters on Monday, according to Dan Graziano of ESPN. "He provides leadership, he's a great player and we'd like to be able to get something done with him at some point. The running back market is what it is right now, but I'm still hopeful at some point we will come to an agreement."

The Giants signing quarterback Daniel Jones to a four-year contract earlier this month allowed them to retain Barkley's rights for 2023 via the non-exclusive franchise tag worth $10.091M. 

According to Ian O’Connor of the New York Post (h/t Ryan Dunleavy), Barkley "turned down a three-or four-year deal averaging about $12M-$12.5M" this past fall. 

Schoen made it known that offer is no longer available to Barkley. 

"There's no outstanding offer right now," Schoen explained. "Once we put the franchise tag on him, we stepped back. We knew throughout the negotiation that there was going to be a time where, if we couldn't come to an agreement, we were going to go to the franchise tag, and that's what we did."

For a piece published on Feb. 16, ESPN's Jordan Raanan reported that Mara "is heavily involved in the day-to-day activity of the team and understands Barkley's value" to New York's offense and also as it pertains to star power. 

According to ESPN stats, Barkley finished the 2022 regular season fourth in the entire league with 1,312 rushing yards. He also contributed 10 rushing touchdowns and 57 catches for 338 yards. 

"I told him how much I wanted him to be a Giant and to play his whole career as a Giant like Eli [Manning] did, like [Michael] Strahan did, like Tiki [Barber] did, and look at what they're doing off the field now," Mara added about conversations he's had with Barkley. "And I think he would like that as well."

As an example, Manning rejoined the Giants "in business operations" and a "fan engagement role" in July 2021.

As much as Mara may want to keep Barkley one of the faces of the Giants throughout the decade, it sounds like Schoen is not keen on sacrificing cap space on the running back position that is devalued in the modern NFL. 

Barkley bet on himself when he rejected New York's offer during the club's bye week in November, and he may now have to give the Giants a discount if he wants to remain with the only NFL home he's known since the 2018 draft past the upcoming campaign.