Saquon Barkley, Daniel Jones missed a chance to squeeze the Giants
When it comes to the big-picture struggles inherent to the running back position, solutions are elusive. The best way to effect short-term change comes from the ability and willingness of individual players to create and utilize real leverage.
That does not mean faking injuries. But it does mean players and agents working together to put maximum pressure on management.
This year, Giants quarterback Daniel Jones and Giants running back Saquon Barkley missed a prime opportunity to put the team over a barrel. They could have, and should have, locked arms and told the Giants that neither would be signing a long-term deal and that the Giants would have to apply the franchise tag to one and let the other one hit the open market — unless both got the long-term deals they wanted.
Instead, the Giants played one against the other, initially trying to sign Barkley with the intent of tagging Jones. When Barkley didn’t accept $13 million per year with $26 million fully guaranteed, Jones got his $40 million per year deal and Barkley got tagged.
Barkley’s camp then spent the next four-plus months trying to get the pre-tag offer back on the table, before reluctantly accepting a one-year package worth up to $11 million.
If Barkley and Jones were represented by the same firm, the both-or-neither option could have worked, getting Jones his $40 million per year contract and securing for Barkley something in the range of $15 million or $16 million. With the two players represented by different firms, the best strategy for creating leverage required the kind of cooperation in which agents from competing firms simply aren’t accustomed to engaging.
This specific dynamic doesn’t arise very often. It happened for the Giants because they had exercised the fifth-year option on Barkley, a 2018 first-round pick, and not on Jones, a first-rounder in 2019. The point is this — all players and agents need to be wired to take full advantage of situations like this when they arise.
In a system where so much is rigged against the players, players and agents need to be ready, willing, and able to turn the tables whenever, wherever, and however they can.
Source: NBC Sports
