How Giants, Saquon Barkley could both win in contract dispute

Perhaps the New York Giants and running back Saquon Barkley could both claim victory regarding ongoing contract negotiations. 

For a piece published Wednesday, Darryl Slater of NJ Advance Media for NJ.com suggested that Giants general manager Joe Schoen and Barkley could agree to a one-year contract worth more than the $10.091M attached to the franchise tag used to retain the 26-year-old's rights back in March. 

"Let’s say it’s a one-year, $15M deal — about a $5M raise from the tag," Slater explained. "Schoen could give Barkley a low salary for 2023 and have the rest of the deal’s money be a signing bonus while adding void years for cap proration purposes. That would result in Barkley getting more than the tag figure in 2023...while also letting Schoen lower Barkley’s $10.091M cap number." 

Slater is working under the assumption that Schoen and company are fine with keeping Barkley on the franchise tag through the July 17 deadline for teams to sign tagged players if doing so means not guaranteeing Barkley roughly $22.22M -- the price of this year's tag combined with next year's. The league reporter and analyst shared this take after NFL Network insider Ian Rapoport (h/t Christian Gonzales) reported Tuesday night that "talks are back on" between the Giants and Barkley. 

"Now, we'll see if they can get to a point where he could become one of the highest-paid running backs in the NFL," Rapoport said. "At the very least, Saquon Barkley is expected to be back with the Giants on a one-year fully guaranteed tag. It's just a matter of whether he's going to get the security that he wants. Time will tell on that one."

While Slater's proposal doesn't offer Barkley security beyond the upcoming season, it would guarantee the 2018 first-round draft pick more money than he's currently scheduled to earn and could allow him to reach free agency next March if he and Schoen came to an agreement about the executive not using the franchise tag on the ball-carrier next year. 

Just about every reporter believes there's little chance Barkley would make good on his threat to hold out through the Week 1 matchup against the Dallas Cowboys on Sept. 10, and accepting a one-year deal worth over $10.1M would let him save some face heading into another contract season.