At the beginning of July, a clip from HBO's "Hard Knocks" that showed the New York Giants discussing their decision to move on from running back Saquon Barkley went viral for its disrespect.
In the video, Giants general manager Joe Schoen and some other front office members went back and forth about whether or not they should trade or place a franchise tag on Barkley.
Giants had to have some TOUGH conversations regarding Saquon this offseason
— B/R Gridiron (@brgridiron) July 3, 2024
(Via HBO's Hard Knocks on @StreamOnMax, @NFL, @Giants)
pic.twitter.com/F3wcxuZBOj
Schoen ultimately made it clear that he did not want to pay $12 million to 27-year-old running back since he already invested a good chunk into quarterback Daniel Jones.
“You’re paying the guy $40 million. It’s not to hand the ball off to a $12 million back,” Schoen bluntly said.
When all was said and done, the Giants chose to take a back seat and told Barkley to test the open market.
And that's the call that changed everything for him.
“It was over after that phone call, in my opinion,” Barkley said during an appearance on The Athletic's “Scoop City” podcast with Dianna Russini. "I never in my heart truly believed that they were going to match it, or they only wanted me for a lower price. So no matter what, I probably wasn’t going to go back.”
Barkley ultimately ended up signing a three-year, $37.75 million deal , with $26 million guaranteed with the Philadelphia Eagles.
The kicker is that was just a teaser from Russini's full interview that officially drops on Tuesday.
We'll check back in with the podcast and see exactly how dirty the Giants really did their running back after six years together.
