NFL

Giants star running back Saquon Barkley considering sitting out 2023 season

By Sports Desk July 19, 2023

New York Giants running back Saquon Barkley said sitting out the 2023 season is among his options after he failed to reach a long-term deal with the team. 

The star running back and the Giants failed to reach a new contract on Monday, meaning Barkley will earn $10.1 million this season on a fully guaranteed one-year deal without the long-term security of a multi-year pact.

In an interview on a podcast that was recorded before Monday’s deadline, Barkley discussed the negotiations for players on a franchise tag to reach a new multi-year deal with terms. He used an expletive several times in noting a holdout would thumb his nose at the Giants and his teammates and show them his true value.

“Anybody who knows me knows that’s not something I want to do,” Barkley said. “But is it something that crossed my mind, I never thought I would ever do that. But now I’m at a point where it’s like, ‘Jesus, I might have to take it to this level. Am I prepared and willing to take it to the level. I don’t know. That’s something I gotta sit down. I gotta sit down and talk to my family. I gotta sit down and talk to my team, gotta really strategise about this. Can’t just go off emotions.”

Barkley totalled a career-high 1,312 rushing yards last season, the fourth-most in the NFL and the most by a Giants player since Tiki Barber’s 1,662 yards in 2006.

The two-time Pro Bowler has rushed for 4,249 yards and 29 touchdowns in 60 games with the Giants since he was the second overall pick out of Penn State in 2018.

 

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