Giants In No Rush To Get Extension In Place For RB Saquon Barkley

On Wednesday, Giants co-owner John Mara told reporters that they’re not in a huge rush to get an extension done with RB Saquon Barkley.

“We’re not in any hurry to do that. We fully expect him to be as good as new. … We hope he’s going to be a Giant for life. At the appropriate time, we’ll start those discussions,” Mara said, per Ralph Vacchiano. 

Barkley is eligible for a new deal for the first time this offseason, but he’s also working his way back from a season-ending torn ACL. 

The good news is that Barkley suffered the injury early on in the season, so he should be ready to go for Week 1.

Even so, the upper end of the running back market is $16 million per year paid to Panthers RB Christian McCaffrey. 

It makes sense that the Giants would want to see how Barkley looks upon returning before getting serious about a long-term deal. The Giants also have a fifth-year option to pick up on Barkley in the coming weeks for the 2022 season. 

Barkley, 24, is a former first-round pick of the Giants back in 2018. He’s currently in the final year of his four-year, $31,321,752 rookie contract that included a $20,859,456 signing bonus.

In 2020, Barkley appeared in two games for the Giants and rushed for 34 yards on 19 carries (1.8 YPC) to go along with six receptions for 60 yards receiving and no touchdowns.

We’ll have more regarding the Giants and Barkley as the news is available.