Much has been written on the unresolved contract negotiations between the NY Giants and Saquon Barkley. Notes:
- Lose lose. The Giants are here in the first place because of the mistake of drafting this player at 1.02. Gettleman’s gift keeps giving. If you lose with a bad RB who was drafted high, you lose. If you “win” with a good RB who was drafted high, you end up here with an expensive disgruntled player in a position that is overpaid.
- Barkley is in denial. And so is his team of agents/representatives. If he is not at training camp with a contract, it will be because of continued denial.
- Respect? Barkley says the negotiations/contract is about respect. George Young: “It’s about the money. And when they say it is not about the money, it is definitely about the money.” Does respect equal money? No. RB is not “respected” by the NFL. Confront the brutal facts…
- Running Back has the worst positional value. GM’s have gotten the memo. We do not need to belabor the point made 3 years ago. Fournette, LAR platoon, and Pacheco are the exclamation point.
- Get to training camp. This is the safest and healthiest path for a productive 2023 season.
- Sitting out the year is not a bargaining position. Not only does it burn a year of income, it anecdotally harms your career.
- Incentives. RB has terrible positional value in part due to injury risk. Align shared goals. The RB wants the money. The GM wants the performance. So pay more for performance via incentives.
- This can also headline the contract so that the RB can save face.
- Ezekiel Elliot did not get cut because he was getting paid too much. He got cut because his performance fell off AND he was getting paid too much.
- Therefore, older RBs cannot receive excessive guaranteed money.
- Barkley has a history of injuries. His track record dictates more incentive and less guaranteed money, all else equal. See “Barkley is in denial.”
- Breida, Brightwell and Gray are enough. The Giants are a better team with Barkley, but since the Offense no longer flows through RB, the Giants will be fine if Barkley regrettably cannot accept a realistic contract. Remember, it’s RB, not QB/OL/EDGE.
- Dalvin Cook? Most likely not. But I would rather have Cook in training camp at $6M per than Barkley for Game 1 at $11-12M per.
- Both sides want a deal. Get it done.