It feels like it's becoming increasingly possible star running back Saquon Barkley is playing for a team other than the New York Giants next season.
The desire for Barkley, who is set to hit the open market when the league year begins in March, is to remain with the G-Men. Similarly, the organization said multiple times late in the 2022-23 campaign how it hoped both Barkley and impending free-agent quarterback Daniel Jones would remain in New York.
However, the New York Post's Paul Schwartz recently provided some intel which casts doubt into Barkley's future with the franchise.
"As of the latest talks, a gap still exists," Schwartz wrote earlier this week, referencing where the two parties stand on a contract. "The Giants are not going to go much higher than an annual average of $12.5 million. They could increase their offer as far as guarantees. The Giants have little interest in having Barkley play the 2023 season on the franchise tag for $10.1 million because they are unwilling to eat up so much of their cap space on a running back."
Schwartz also added how the Giants view the recent contract signed by Cleveland Browns running back Nick Chubb, whose salary cap number in his first year of the new deal was $4.7 million, to be more in line with what they're pursuing.
If the Giants aren't able to come to agreement with Barkley, its quite likely he's able to find what he's looking for somewhere else.
