Free agent running back Saquon Barkley has seemingly proven the impossible. He's gotten Philadelphia Eagles GM Howie Roseman to commit big money to the running back position. Roseman almost infamously never spends money at this particular position, but he's clearly made an exception for Barkley.
Former Giants RB Saquon Barkley reached agreement with the Philadelphia Eagles on a three-year, $37.75 million contract that could be worth up to $46.75M and includes $26M fully guaranteed at signing, per sources.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 11, 2024
Barkley now beats the franchise tag number and has a maximum… pic.twitter.com/d2TnEWhaQ0
Barkley is getting an above-market deal from the Philadelphia Eagles, a situation that certainly paints the New York Giants in a bad light. When Giants GM Joe Schoen was asked about whether he would be willing to pay Barkley based on his value to the Giants or based on running back market value around the league, he emphatically stated that it would be "market" value.
Well, how about this?
The Giants didn't properly value Saquon Barkley, and now he's going off to a division rival where he'll be able to torture them twice a year. This is simply a move that makes very little sense from the New York Giants, but should anyone have expected anything less?
Giants GM Joe Schoen was recently confronted in a live interview by a Giants fan regarding the Daniel Jones contract, and both the player and the contract holding back the team. Schoen said that the Giants believed in Jones and that they wanted to continue trying to add pieces around him to make him successful.
This is the opposite of that.
Barkley was the second overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft by former Giants GM Dave Gettleman. He was one of the biggest overnight success stories from that particular draft class, but struggled with some injuries. The Giants kept him for the entirety of his five-year rookie deal as well as the franchise tag last year. Perhaps they feel like Barkley has maximized what he's capable of doing at the NFL level, and that he won't do much on a second (big-money) contract.
Maybe they're right to let him go. But the optics of this move are just terrible for an organization that has committed to Daniel Jones. The Giants need to do whatever they possibly can to surround Jones with talent, because he's not capable of carrying that team on his own.
Letting Saquon Barkley go is one thing, but letting him go to the Philadelphia Eagles?
This is a brutal one for the Giants, and frankly a great move for the Eagles where D'Andre Swift had a career year in 2023 and Miles Sanders the year before that.