The New York Giants had their franchise running back.
Except in the modern NFL, teams don't look at it like that. There isn't such a thing as a franchise RB, even when it's Saquon Barkley.
And so the Giants didn't pay him, and he left for the Philadelphia Eagles, and he ran for 2,006 yards in 2024.
Not a bad debut season for the division rival, even while sitting out Week 18 in the process rather than run up the numbers.
And all after what, in the NFL, amounts to not that much money.
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Why did the Giants let Saquon Barkley leave for the Eagles?
The answer: $12 million.
Hard Knocks, the preseason documentary show, picked an incredible season to feature the Giants, because within their filming, we got all our answers.
This is what GM Joe Schoen said to the concept of keeping Barkley during one clip:
“We’ve gotta upgrade the offensive line, and you’re paying Daniel Jones $40 million. It’s not to hand the ball off to a $12 million back.”
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So does that mean, indirectly, Jones is to blame? Or at least the people who paid him? For sure.
But it's more about that $12 million number, one deemed too much for a running back on an annual salary in the modern NFL.
Maybe that's true in general, or when a player gets hurt.
But if an RB runs for 2,000 yards, he's worth that and more.
Barkley was rarely setup for success with the Giants. Their team wasn't normally good enough for him to thrive, and he did get hurt a lot.
But in a league that brings in more money than anyone can count, the reason he ended up not getting a contract offer from the Giants was $12 million. And that's certainly a choice.
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