The New York Giants need to figure out how to keep Saquon Barkley around for the long-term.
After using the franchise tag on running back Saquon Barkley, the New York Giants need to figure out how to make sure he plays out his entire prime for the G-Men, and the G-Men alone.
The former No. 2 overall pick by the Giants out of Penn State has spent his entire pro career in The Big Apple. He is coming off his second Pro Bowl season, arguably his best year since his rookie campaign with New York back in 2018. With him being tagged, Barkley is slated to make a shade over $10 million in 2023. Other tailbacks who were tagged include Tony Pollard and Josh Jacobs.
Assuming the Giants want the 26-year-old to play out the rest of his 20s with them, let’s discuss what a potential long-term extension could look like for the New York star running back.
Saquon Barkley contract rumors: What an extension may look like for Giants RB
The top five highest-paid running backs in the league are as follows in terms of average annual value: Christian McCaffrey ($16 million), Alvin Kamara ($15 million), Dalvin Cook ($12.6 million), Derrick Henry ($12.5 million) and Nick Chubb ($12.2 million). McCaffrey and Kamara make more because of their ability to receive out of the backfield, which certainly helps Barkley out in this.
I think the really important thing to consider is it really doesn’t matter that Barkley suffered a major injury with the Giants back in 2020. While Kamara has had mostly a clean bill of health professionally, McCaffrey hasn’t, neither has Cook, Henry has missed games and Chubb had a major knee injury in college at Georgia. So if the market says Barkley is worth this amount, he is.
With the Giants extending Daniel Jones already, it is up to general manager Joe Schoen to figure out the right length and average annual value to keep Barkley around for the next few years. If I were them, I would probably get Barkley under contract for the next three seasons at somewhere around $15 million. I do have apprehension about making him the NFL‘s highest-paid running back.
Furthermore, I wouldn’t want to do anything beyond the next three seasons. If the Giants can get Barkley’s age-26-to-28 seasons at a fair market price, then good for them. However, locking into something more substantial beyond the 2025 NFL season is a bit too much for my liking. I would understand them spreading the money out at around $14.5 million of so to get that fourth year.
Look for Barkley to be a top-five paid player with AAV at running back, but not reset the market.