The New York Giants are no strangers to dealing with contract negotiations, as the team that’s currently in the middle of the Leonard Williams and Markus Golden situations this offseason, but there’s one big name Giants player that hasn’t been spoken of as much when it comes to contracts – a player that isn’t an unrestricted free agent now but will be down the line eventually, and when he is, it will be the biggest story for the Giants.
That player is their top running back Saquon Barkley, who is also the most common pick for the team’s best player, even after his injury-stuck 2019 season where his best performances didn’t come until the year was almost over. Barkley is of course in the third year of his four year rookie deal which raises questions about what will happen in the future after this season.
Steelers cornerback Joe Haden believes that it’s already time to start talking about Barkley’s contract.
Random Thought: @saquon needs to get a 2nd contract ASAP! They doing running backs Dirty
— Joe Haden (@joehaden23) March 21, 2020
The Giants will certainly try to re-sign Barkley once his contract is getting closer to expiring, but when Barkley pushes for a deal may affect what terms he and the Giants end up reaching. However, one could argue that this isn’t the time for Barkley to ask for a new contract, mainly because of his statistical dropoff last year.
Yes, the drop in numbers was for the most part because of injury rather than anything in Barkley’s hands, but a strong performance this year and a healthy season would give Barkley and his agent better recent numbers to point to as justification for the Giants giving a big payday in a new contract.
Should the Giants already be thinking of this, and getting it done earlier than expected to avoid complications coming up down the line, like this current situation with Markus Golden and the recent one with Leonard Williams? And should Barkley look for this contract himself?
The answer isn’t clear, but when it is time to talk about Barkley’s contract, it will no doubt be the biggest offseason matter that the Giants have to deal with.