New York Giants assistant general manager Brandon Brown made a rare appearance in front of the media at the team’s initial mandatory minicamp workout on Tuesday.
The hot topic? You guessed it — the Saquon Barkley contract situation.
Brown did not offer any details, updates or progress on Barkley’s status, only sizing that business is business and it hasn’t changed the way he or the team feels about Saquon the person.
“Obviously, we’ve been going around with Saquon in communication since about nine months now, but that’s above my paygrade in terms of divulging some of the stuff that we’re going to keep in house. But we love Saquon. He knows how I feel about him, he knows how we feel about him collectively, but we’re going to handle the business inside with him. I’m excited whenever he’s back, but I know he’s taking care of his business right now,” Brown said.
“I think when you’re dealing with someone who is extremely mature like Saquon, you can separate the personal and the professional. I think that’s when you have honest and open conversations. You take the feelings out of it. You’re able to establish common ground. It doesn’t mean you’re going to agree, but that’s what I appreciate about him. He can listen, and he can digest the information we’re giving him, and he can tell us his feelings as well.”
Barkley is currently sitting out of minicamp as he is not under contract. He has refused to sign his franchise tender offer of one year, $10.1 million in hopes of landing a more lucrative long-term deal.
The Giants had offered Barkley a deal last fall that would have paid him approximately $14 million per annum (with incentives) but Barkley and his representatives rejected the offer.
The two sides have not been able to come to an agreement as Barkley is holding steady and the Giants are following the market, which for running backs has taken a dive.
It’s unlikely that a deal will be struck this week in order to get the two-time Pro Bowler on the field, which means the soonest we’ll see him is when the team opens training camp in late July. But under what conditions — if any — will be playing?
The deadline for the Giants to sign Barkley a multi-year contract extension is July 17. After that date, he can only be signed to a one-year deal that cannot be extended until after the Giants’ final regular season game.
If he accepts the franchise tag conditions or a one-year deal, we could be sitting here next year at this time going through this all over again.
