When Saquon Barkley admitted season-long holdout is "a play I could use"

Philadelphia Eagles running back Saquon Barkley finished the 2024 season as the top rusher of the year. But when Barkley stepped into MetLife Stadium in 2024 as an Eagle, he was welcomed with loud boos and fans burning his jersey outside the stadium. Their reaction highlights the history both the Eagles and Barkley have with the New York Giants, his previous franchise.

After being drafted in 2018, Saquon Barkley looked to be one of the premier running backs of the future. With New York, he shone in his rookie season, totaling 15 TDs and 2,028 yards from scrimmage. Barkley suffered a dip in form in 2019 before a torn ACL derailed his 2020 season, which became a constant concern for the franchise going forward.

Given his talent and the questions around Barkley's injury history, the Giants elected to exercise his fifth-year option and put contract negotiations on hold until his contract year.

Those negotiations, however, became a major topic in the 2023 offseason, as the two parties were some way off. Amid giving QB Daniel Jones a highly controversial four-year, $160 million deal, the franchise elected to franchise tag Barkley. He refused to sign it. There was then talk that Barkley might walk the same path as former Steelers RB Le'Veon Bell, who sat out for an entire season.

With this ongoing, Saquon Barkley was invited to "The Money Matters Podcast" in July 2023, where Barkley explained his options and openly discussed potentially sitting out:

“My leverage is I could say, ‘f--- you’ to the Giants, I could say, ‘f--- you' to my teammates. And be like, ‘You want me to show you my worth? You want me to show you how valuable I am to the team? I won’t show up. I won’t play a down.’ And that’s a play I could use.

"Anybody who knows me knows that's not something I wanna do. But is it something that has crossed my mind? I never thought I would ever do that, but now I am at a point where it's like, Jesus, I might have to take it to this level. Am I willing, am I prepared to take it to the level? I don't know.

"That's something I got to strategize about, I can't just go off emotions."

In the end, Barkley and the Giants agreed to a last-minute one-year deal with potential earnings of $11 million, including a $2 million signing bonus and $1 million in incentives.

As per Spotrac, Saquon Barkley earned $10.091 million that season, which, while slightly under the $10.1 million franchise tag value, had more incentives. However, with the Giants missing the playoffs and going 6-11, and Barkley rushing for 962 yards and 6 TDs (with 280 yards and 4 TDs through the air), his deal came out just under.

Saquon Barkley rejects Giants' offer to join Eagles

The one-year deal was always going to be nothing more than a stop-gap, and the contract situation between Saquon Barkley and the Giants was an ongoing topic. Barkley wanted a long-term solution and a salary of around $16 million. However, the Giants didn't agree to the sum.

RB contracts were on the downturn at the time, due to the perceived ability to easily replace the position effectively in the draft and due to the injury risk RBs pose from frequent contact.

There was a lot of dispute about running back contracts at the time, and Christian McCaffrey was the highest-paid RB with $16.02 million. With this in the backdrop, Barkley became a free agent.

He then joined the Eagles on a three-year deal worth $37.75 million, including $26 million guaranteed. Interestingly, this was a bit lower annually than the best offer made by the Giants of $14 million AAV. However, the relationship between the RB and NY had doubtless been affected, and looking at the Super Bowl win and the total contract size, Saquon Barkley will likely have no regrets.