New York Giants running back Saquon Barkley is setting himself up nicely for a giant payday after the 2022 season.
The No. 2 pick of the 2018 NFL Draft has regained his star-like form after missing most of 2020 and a chunk of 2021 due to injuries. Through the Giants’ first eight games of 2022, Barkley has 779 rushing yards, five rushing scores and 28 receptions for 189 yards.
Barkley is slated to hit free agency after this season. But it’d be a surprise if the Giants didn’t make a serious push to re-sign the 2018 Offensive Rookie of the Year.
Bleacher Report’s Alex Ballentine offered early predictions for the top 2023 NFL free agents following the Tuesday trade deadline. Ballentine predicted that Barkley will stay right where he is by signing “a long-term” contract extension:
“Ultimately, the Giants are going to have to bite the bullet and hand Barkley a multi-year contract. While other teams could use him, he’s especially valuable to the Giants. He has the highest dominator rating in the league, a metric that quantifies what percentage of a team’s touchdowns and total yards a player accounts for, per Player Profiler.
The optimal situation for the Giants would be getting Barkley to agree to a contract that’s around three years with as little guaranteed money as possible. But they aren’t in a position to let him walk given how much he means to the offense.”
Handing out lucrative extensions to running backs in this day and age is very risky.
Some running backs like Derrick Henry (Tennessee Titans), Dalvin Cook (Minnesota Vikings), Alvin Kamara (New Orleans Saints) and Nick Chubb (Cleveland Browns) have earned every penny of their current deals thus far.
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But Ezekiel Elliott of the Dallas Cowboys, ex-Los Angeles Ram Todd Gurley and former Atlanta Falcon Devonta Freeman all experienced noticeable regressions after signing long-term deals with their teams.
It will be very interesting to see how the Giants proceed in contract negotiations with Barkley here. He’s not the only notable free agent on the roster, as the team will also have to make a decision on 2019 first-round pick Daniel Jones.
The Giants declined the fifth-year option on Jones’ rookie year, but his improved play is a key reason why the team stands at 6-2. Barkley is the focal point of this offense, but Jones has done his job as well by completing 65.0 percent of pass attempts for 1,399 yards, six touchdowns and only two interceptions to go along with 363 rushing yards and three rushing scores.
