The New York Giants had a lot of eyes on them this offseason. As a result, Hard Knocks chose the New York Giants as the team to be featured on their “Hard Knocks: Offseason” spinoff show.
When this show was first announced, one of the biggest topics people were curious about was the handling of free agent Saquon Barkley. This past episode gave us a closer look as to how that went down.
Joe Schoen Lets Saquon Barkley “Test Free Agency”
Credit: USA Today
The latest episode of the Hard Knocks: Offseason show ended with a phone call between New York Giants GM Joe Schoen and former Giants RB Saquon Barkley. Schoen claimed to express a desire to work out a new deal with Barkley. However, he wanted to avoid placing the franchise tag on the running back for a second consecutive year.
So, how did that phone call end? Schoen told Barkley that he should test out the free agent market. He asked Barkley to promise him to “circle back” with the best offer to allow the Giants to try to match it. When Schoen asked Barkley for reassurance on this, Barkley responded with this:
“I mean, I already told you where I want to be, so…” -Saquon Barkley
Saquon Barkley Done With New York Giants?
Giants fans remember last offseason for all of the wrong reasons. Schoen decided to place the team’s franchise tag on Barkley back then before eventually coming to an agreement. However, in the process, Schoen gave QB Daniel Jones a 4-year extension worth $160 million.
This caused Barkley to feel a level of resentment towards the franchise tag process. As a result, Barkley asked the Giants not to place the franchise tag on him again. Given the tone of the phone call mentioned above between Schoen and Barkley combined with the team’s poor record and offensive line, one can say Barkley already was walking out on the Giants.
Joe Schoen on the Hot Seat?
If anything has come out of this Hard Knocks: Offseason coverage of the New York Giants, it is Schoen’s handling of Saquon Barkley. Combined with last year’s events and betting on Barkley not getting the contract that he did, it is safe to assume that Schoen could have handled this situation better.
Giants owner John Mara stated on the show that he did not want to lose Barkley. He also said that he would not sleep well at night if Barkley left. Well, now that it has happened, we may see Mara start to question if Schoen is the right man for the job as General Manager of the New York Giants.
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