The New York Giants signed quarterback Daniel Jones to a four-year, $160 million contract final offseason however have been unable to ink working again Saquon Barkley to a multi-year deal of his personal.
As a substitute, the Giants designated Barkley their franchise participant and after a quick standoff, in the end signed him to a modified model of the one-year tender.
That’s one thing that didn’t sit properly with linebacker Kayvon Thibodeaux. In truth, it made him “mad.”
“I consider in Daniel Jones,” Thibodeaux mentioned on the 7PM in Brooklyn podcast. “What I’m mad about is that Saquon — as a result of in case you take a look at the sport, the tape, Saquon was answerable for a minimum of 30 p.c of our explosive performs, speaking concerning the 12 months [2022] we received the playoff sport.
“So, for me and for the integrity of working collectively and exhausting work, and all of us consider the identical issues, I really feel like Saquon ought to have gotten paid first. That’s what I really feel.”
Thibodeaux is just not the primary teammate to categorical assist for Barkley however he’s the primary to name out Jones’ contract and make it a one or the opposite subject.
The issue Thibodeaux and others fail to acknowledge is that — whether or not they agree with it or not — the working again market now not yields huge contracts. Basic supervisor Joe Schoen was keen to go to a sure level after which there was a line within the sand. Barkley and his representatives pushed for a contract just like that of Christian McCaffrey and that simply wasn’t going to occur.
Barkley’s harm historical past and the quick shelf lifetime of NFL working backs made it not possible for Schoen to interrupt the financial institution. And whereas many don’t like listening to that, they’re legitimate considerations in terms of a long-term funding.
“I don’t know the again finish — perhaps it’s a franchise [tag], perhaps it’s an extension, perhaps it’s blah, blah, blah,” mentioned Thibodeaux. “That’s none of my enterprise. I’ve to deal with me. . . As a result of we see it. As a group, we all know who’s placing in work and never.”
To his credit score, nobody places in additional work than Jones. That’s one thing even Barkley would attest to.
The issue with the Jones contract is that it was bungled from the very begin. Schoen declined Jones’ fifth-year possibility and that in the end backed him right into a nook when Jones put up career-best numbers in 2022. And had they franchised DJ as a substitute of signing him to a long-term deal, there would have been no cash (or tag) left over for Barkley.
In the meantime, Barkley’s modified deal, which added $900,000 in incentives, made him one of many league’s highest-paid working backs based mostly on a yearly common. Nonetheless, none of these incentives have been hit and he ended up incomes the $10.1 million that the unique tag known as for.
Barkley is once more an impending free agent and the Giants seem like in no rush to signal him long-term.
