The New York Giants are coming off their first playoff appearance since 2016, but 2023 is quickly off to a rocky start.
Saquon Barkley and the Giants failed to reach an agreement on a longterm contract extension ahead of Monday’s 4 p.m. Eastern Time deadline, meaning that Barkley would have to decide between playing on a one-year, $10.1 million franchise tag or holding out for the foreseeable future.
It’s looking like the latter.
The expectation, according to Giants beat writer Art Stapleton, is that Barkley will not report to training camp and he won’t sign the franchise tender to play on an expiring deal.
Right when that deadline passed, Barkley made it clear that no deal was reached.
It is what it is
— Saquon Barkley (@saquon) July 17, 2023
He took to Twitter and posted, “It is what it is.”
Barkley was coming off his best season since suffering a torn ACL in Week 2 of the 2020 season. While teams rarely offer running backs lucrative longterm deals — the last being Nick Chubb in 2021 — Barkley was looking to break that trend before the deadline. It just didn’t work out that way.
Fans also had thoughts on Barkley’s reaction to the news.