Saquon Barkley Signs One-Year Deal In Time For Training Camp

After threatening to sit out the season, Saquon Barkley signed a one year contract and reported to training camp.

It’s quite the U-turn from the New York Giants running back, who was one of the more vocal franchise-tagged players.

Saquon Barkley signed a deal with incentives that could take his salary to $11 million. It’s just over the £10.091 million franchise tag mark.

In the end, the leverage the Giants had and his desire to play swayed Saquon Barkley to sign.

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“I had an epiphany,” Barkley said. “The reality of it is, one, I kind of just followed my heart. Honestly, I heard what everyone was saying in the news, on social media, but I kind of just followed my heart. And then you’ve got to look at it as a business point, from a business view. I felt like, what’s the best thing that I can do? 

“Some people may agree or disagree with this. It’s a sit-out or a sit-in, and I feel like for this year specifically, the best thing that I can do for myself would be coming back, going out there and playing the game that I love, playing for my teammates, doing something that I wanted to do since I was a little kid.”

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“I understand. I know what’s going on with the running back situation and me being tagged, and the value of the running back continuing going down. The only way that I feel like that’s gonna change is someone’s gotta make a change, and God-willing, hopefully, I can be one of those people to do it.

“It didn’t happen because, one, just being flat-out honest, the tag,” he said. “That’s the leverage that they have. I think if I wasn’t able to get tagged, I do think the negotiating process would have went a lot different. I think I would have had a lot more leverage in my way.”