From the face of the Giants’ franchise to possibly being the missing piece for the Eagles, Saquon Barkley has been the topic of conversation since his signing in Philadelphia. The recent discourse has been ignited by Giants ‘ GM Joe Schoen. See the issue at hand is when the Eagles signed Barkley, he received an incredible amount of backlash from the fan base and even Giants legend Tiki Barber.
Barber responded to the signing by telling Barkley, “You’re dead to us, Saquon.” He went on to say “You’re dead to me, Good luck”. It’s understandable why a player who was once the face of the franchise would be upset about the current face leaving but context matters in this situation.
Barkley previously stated that the Giants never made him an offer and due to the last Hard Knocks episode, it looks like Schoen and his team were heading in that direction. The Giants’ GM seemed very disinterested in re-signing Barkley to a large deal. He was so confident in moving on that he even stated, “Who would you say would go sign a running back at that dollar amount?” to his front office team.
The concern on their faces was evident, the Giants were taking a blow to their identity while Schoen was acting like he could do no wrong. A front office member answered his question by saying, “A team that’s willing to spend.” Schoen continued by saying that “there’s a lot of running backs in free agency.” This is undeniably true but there were no backs like Saquon.
Saquon Barkley has been mentioned in the same breath as Christian McCaffrey multiple times this offseason. That is the expected impact he is supposed to have on the Eagles. Schoen may have let this bitterness from last offseason contract talks with Barkley get the best of him during this offseason. So much so that he was willing to allow his franchise running back to feel unwanted and disrespected.
Those had to have been Saquon’s feelings before Hard Knocks was released. Just imagine how he feels now as things are starting to unravel. Both camps could’ve moved on by this point if the Giants weren’t featured on Hard Knocks. Schoen could have continued to hide behind the “disloyal” labeling of Saquon throughout the rest of the offseason but unfortunately for the Giants GM, he has made a mockery of a player that gave that franchise everything he had.
He mentioned to Frank Gore that running backs start to decline at the age of 27 years old which just so happens to be Saquon’s age. Shortly after Saquon signed with the Eagles, the Giants went on to sign Devin Singletary, who just so happens to be turning 27 years old in September. Good job Joe, you’re doing well this offseason.
This is the moment when Eagles fans can admire the brilliance of Howie Roseman and his team. See the Giants signed Devin Singletary to a 3-year, $16.5 million contract to replace Barkley. The Eagles signed Barkley to a 3-year, $37 million contract to be their guy.
Singletary received $9 million guaranteed and a $3 million signing bonus. Barkley received a $11 million bonus and $26 million guaranteed. The difference between both deals seems to be significant until you start to look deeper into what Philly did. Saquon’s base salaries for the next three years are as follows: $1.3 million, $1.1 million, and $1.3 million. His cap hits are $3.8 million, $5.5 million, and $9 million.
Singletary’s contract is similarly structured. He’ll be receiving $2.2 million, 4.7 million, and $5 million over the next three years. His cap hit will be $3.7 million, $6.2 million, and 6.5 million. Saquon’s money looks to be more due to all of the guaranteed money but its effect on the Eagles’ cap space seems to be just as much as Singletary’s impact on the Giants’ cap space.
The question that Giants fans should be asking does involve Saquon Barkley but it needs to be directed at their GM Joe Schoen. The same man who excused the play of Daniel Jones due to the offensive line but did not apply the same excuse to Saquon who made the most of their terrible offensive line. The Giants may not want to pay a $40 million QB to hand the ball off to a $12 million running back but you can bet your bottom dollar that the Eagles will gladly pay their $51 million QB to hand it off to their new $12 million running back.
How do you feel about the Eagles signing of Saquon Barkley?
AP Photo/Chris Szagola
