On Sunday night, Saquon Barkley picked up his first Super Bowl championship as the Philadelphia Eagles defeated the Kansas City Chiefs. Unsurprisingly, that thrust the New York Giants back into the spotlight.
The entire NFL world saw the divorce between Barkley and the Giants play out on “Hard Knocks: Offseason with the New York Giants” back in July. It became a viral topic of discussion that persisted throughout the year as the former No. 2 overall pick put up historic numbers.
Although exact contractual details were not shared during Hard Knocks, a recent report by Ryan Dunleavy of the New York Post suggests the Giants and Barkley parted ways over just $1.5 million in guaranteed money over the course of three seasons.
Had the Giants upped their own final offer to him, made in July 2023, by about $1.5 million guaranteed over three years, Barkley never would’ve reached free agency, and HBO’s “Hard Knocks” would’ve been boring television. The Eagles’ season might be over.
That minuscule amount of money set in motion a remarkable fall from grace for the Giants and the ascension of the Philadelphia Eagles to the NFL’s elite.
But there’s still more to the story.
Greg Bishop of Sports Illustrated recently sat down with Barkley’s trainer, Ryan Flaherty, who informed the publication that New York once offered the running back a larger deal than the one he signed with Philadelphia, but it was rebuffed.
In regard to Saquon Barkley’s contract with the Eagles, his trainer, Ryan Flaherty, says one Giants offer came in higher than what Barkley signed for in Philadelphia. He shares this story to illuminate Barkley’s mindset. The running back viewed that calculus in multiple ways. He wasn’t happy with how the Giants handled the end in New York. He never said so publicly. He understood the tension. And, while he reconciled the tension with his internal misgivings, he still wanted to remain loyal. Even before this season. When Giants brass decided to move on, he saw not fewer dollars in Philadelphia but a realistic chance to win a Super Bowl.
“It’s rare upon rare for someone to go to a division rival and everybody just be like, ‘Well, we respect you because of how you handled that,'” Flaherty said. “He held to his principles. That’s who he is.”
It can be true that the Giants and general manager Joe Schoen mishandled the situation with Barkley and also true that Barkley turned down a fair offer. Those two things are not mutually exclusive.
Unfortunately for Schoen, these new revelations that are coming from the Barkley camp (and not the Giants), won’t be enough to end the relentless criticism and mockery.
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