Free company must be wealthy with working again expertise this offseason as a number of veterans are anticipated to hit the open market.
A kind of is Giants RB Saquon Barkley, and basic supervisor Joe Schoen shared his ideas the previous No. 2 total choose.
“He is a captain. He is a pacesetter. He is a tough employee. I feel the world of Saquon and I nonetheless assume he can play. So, my worth for Saquon actually hasn’t modified.” Schoen informed reporters on the NFL Scouting Mix. “He is a man we would prefer to have again. We’ll see if we are able to get one thing carried out with him.”
New York just isn’t anticipated to make use of the franchise tag on Barkley, per ESPN’s Adam Schefter, however the crew is clearly nonetheless all for exploring a long-term cope with him.
The 27-year-old is coming off a little bit of an underwhelming season the place he rushed for 962 yards and 6 touchdowns whereas including 41 catches for 280 yards and 4 touchdowns receiving.
His 2023 season wasn’t unhealthy by any means, nevertheless it was definitely a step down from his 2022 marketing campaign when he ran for 1,312 yards and 10 touchdowns.
In response to Spotrac, Barkley is predicted to obtain a three-year, $29.9 million contract ($9.9M per 12 months) this offseason.
Whether or not that will probably be from the Giants stays to be seen, however when wholesome, Barkley remains to be probably the greatest working backs within the league. If a crew can get two-time Professional Bowler for lower than $10M a 12 months, that appears like a steal.
The working again place has by no means been valued much less, which may assist New York in its contract negotiations. Nonetheless, Schoen is aware of the most important unknown is how a lot Barkley values himself.
“I can not predict what is going on to occur with the working again market. We’ll have a greater really feel right here in a few weeks,” Schoen added. “There’s plenty of uncertainty as you go into free company as a result of groups can re-sign their gamers.”