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Most of us would be thrilled to be paid more than $10 million this season to do their job, but New York Giants Pro Bowl running back Saquon Barkley is not happy the Giants slapped the franchise tag on him earlier this season, which would pay him more than $10 million for this season. Barkley wants a long-term deal with a big guarantee up front and now says that if he doesn’t get it is prepared to sit out the NFL season.

NFL Betting News: Giants Star Tailback Saquon Barkley Prepared To Sit Out Season

The Giants reportedly made Barkley an offer of three years at $12.5 million per during last season but his camp stupidly turned it down. He would make $10.1 million this year. The Giants say that previous offer is gone but that they do want Barkley long term.

“Essentially when you’re building a team, there’s 53 players, you can’t look at everybody in a silo,” GM Joe Schoen said. “As you’re going through negotiations, if you can’t come to an agreement on what the value of the player is then you have to shift to Plan B. We knew we had the franchise tag as a tool. We’ll see if anything happens down the road.”

Schoen said in March that he’s comfortable with Barkley playing on the franchise tag, which would rank him seventh among running backs in average annual value. Though Barkley said he’s not aiming to “reset” the running back market, he wouldn’t divulge his asking price. But it surely is more than the $10.1 million franchise tag salary, with strong guarantees.

The Giants have mandatory minicamp this week but Barkley literally can’t attend because he still hasn’t signed the franchise tag. He and the team have until July 17 to complete a long-term deal. If not, Barkley must play on the tag. If he were to sit out the full season, the Giants would then simply hold his rights for 2024 again and he would have to play on the tag.

Most likely, he would miss a chunk of early games to make a point and then play to earn his year of his service time and become a free agent next winter. Barkley said he would consider sitting out — though he has admitted that he hadn’t thought about it much so far. Barkley has accused the Giants of “misleading” and “untruthful” leaks about negotiations, with reports he turned down deals with annual average values of $12.5 million to $13 million.

“That comes up in the conversation if something doesn’t get done by July 17 … At the end of the day, it’s all about respect. That is really what it is,” Barkley said. “I never thought it would have to be this difficult, but I got tagged. There’s a lot of stuff that I can go into, but I feel like that, you know, we say, ‘Family business is family business’ in (the Giants’ headquarters), and I’m gonna stick to that. It’s a business; they can do what they want to do.”

The former NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year and No. 2 overall pick ran for a career-high 1,312 yards and had 10 touchdowns last season for the Giants, his fifth with the team. He also matched a team-high with 57 receptions, and he helped New York into the postseason for the first time in his career.

Sitting out a full season to avoid playing on the franchise tag has happened. Former Pro Bowl NFL running back Le’Veon Bell sat out the 2018 season, refusing to sign the franchise tag in a contract dispute with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Bell since repeatedly has said he regrets his decision as Bell’s career never was the same again. Barkley’s backup is currently veteran Matt Breida.

The Giants open the season on Sept. 10 at home vs. Dallas in the first Sunday night game of the year with the Cowboys as 3-point favorites. The Giants lost at home to Dallas in Week 3 last year on Monday night, 23-16. CeeDee Lamb caught the winning TD pass with 8:30 left. Barkley scored on a weaving 36-yard touchdown run that gave the Giants a brief 13-6 lead. He had 81 yards on 14 carries.

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