The New York Giants have a superstar in running back Saquon Barkley, who is technically under contract until the end of the 2021 season, but looking at the deals his contemporaries have recently signed, he’s in line for big payday well before his rookie contract expires.
Giants general manager Dave Gettleman knows if Barkley has another banner year — let’s say one in which he amasses over 2,000 total yards from scrimmage — he’s going to have be paid in the same neighborhood as the Carolina Panthers back Christian McCaffrey or even higher.
During his conference call this week with reporters, Barkley’s impending contract situation was on his mind, along with the contracts of some other young stars.
“Part of the tight rope that I walk on is short-term and long-term. Part of the long-term is we have some good, young players right now. We’ve got Dalvin Tomlinson, (Evan) Engram and (Jabrill) Peppers. We have to make decisions on them. They’re some good, young players. After another year, you guys are going to be banging on me about Saquon,” Gettleman said.
McCaffrey was given a four-year, $64 million contract extension by Carolina this week, making him the second-highest paid running back behind Dallas’ Ezekiel Elliott, who was inked to a ridiculous six-year, $90 million contract extension before the 2019 season.
Barkley is currently the fifth-highest paid running back at the moment (the Jets’ LeVeon Bell is third and David Johnson of Houston is fourth), with his rookie deal paying him a total of $31,194,751 over four years. He has two seasons remaining on that deal.
Gettleman does not have to make a decision on Barkley until next spring when Barkley’s fifth-year option is due to be exercised. At that time, depending on Barkley’s health outlook, the Giants will explore a possible contract extension.
That will likely be based more on McCaffrey’s deal than will be on Elliott’s. The Cowboys vastly overpaid Elliott by all accounts. Running back is not considered to be a position in which teams allocate the lion’s share of their cap space. Most teams that either reach or win the Super Bowl these days have a running back-by-committee approach to the position.
[lawrence-related id=644774,644767,644747]