Giants and NFL Betting News: Saquon Barkley Doubtful

The deadline for players slapped with the franchise tag to sign a long-term extension with their teams was Monday or said players had to take the field this season under the tag unless they wanted to sit out in protest and get nothing. That very rarely happens as no player wants to throw away millions of dollars simply to make a point, but New York Giants Pro Bowl running back Saquon Barkley claims he is pondering that possibility. Needless to say, that would hugely affect all Giants NFL futures odds as he’s the MVP of that offense.

NFL Betting News: Giants Pro Bowl Running Back Saquon Barkley Could Skip Season | NFL Lines by MyBookie

The last big-name player to skip a season was then Pittsburgh Steelers Pro Bowl running back Le’Veon Bell in 2018 because he didn’t want to play on the franchise tag. Bell was traded ahead of the 2019 season to the New York Jets and did get a big contract but never recouped that lost 2018 money and frankly never was close to the same player again. Bell averaged 35.8 rushing yards per game in his final three seasons from 2019-2021 where he played for four different teams: the Jets, Chiefs, Buccaneers and Ravens. That represented a drop of more than 50 yards per game from his Steelers days.

That’s the risk Barkley runs. If he’s really serious about using his leverage on the Giants, he will sit out to start the year but eventually play so he can accrue his service time and then hit free agency again next winter. Since he still has not signed the franchise tag tender, Barkley cannot be fined for missing training camp, which begins for Giants rookies on Tuesday.

The 26-year-old finished fourth in the NFL with a career-high 1,312 rushing yards last season, ran for 10 touchdowns and tied for the team lead with 57 receptions. He was the No. 2 overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft out of Penn State and spectacular that year in earning Offensive Rookie of the Year. However, from 2019-21, Barkley wasn’t very effective and usually hurt.

Thus, the Giants don’t want to break the bank for him as running backs simply aren’t that valuable these days. Barkley reportedly turned down an offer of $14 million per season earlier this year in a clear mistake. He would earn $10.09 million this year on the tag. Sitting out is his only real leverage and not much of one.

“My leverage is I could say, ‘F— you’ to the Giants, I could say, ‘F— you to my teammates,” Barkley said recently. “And be like, ‘You want me to show you my worth? You want me to show you how valuable I am to the team? I won’t show up. I won’t play a down.’ And that’s a play I could use. I never thought I would ever do that, but now I’m at a point where I’m like, ‘Jesus, I might have to take it to this level.’ Am I prepared to take it to this level? I don’t know.”

The Giants would be up the creek without Barkley, whose His 1,650 scrimmage yards accounted for 27.7% total offense last season, the fifth-highest rate in the entire league trailing only Derrick Henry (36.1%), Josh Jacobs (32.9%), Nick Chubb (28.5%) and Justin Jefferson (28.3%). Jacobs of the Raiders led the NFL in rushing and he, too, is thinking about missing games this year because he was slapped with the franchise tag.

Barkley’s backup is again veteran Matt Breida. In 2022, he played in all 19 regular-season and postseason games as Barkley’s primary backup and finished second on the team with 220 rushing yards and one touchdown on 54 carries and added 20 receptions for 118 yards.

The team also could look to get rookie fifth-round pick Eric Gray more involved if there’s no Barkley, who will not be at training camp at a minimum. Instead of playing with the backups, Gray will now likely see plenty of playing time with the first team at camp. Last year at OU, Gray had 44 carries of 10+ yards, ranking first among Big 12 running backs.

New York is currently a 3.5-point home underdog for Week 1 vs. Dallas. That line would rise at least a bit if Barkley is not playing. The Cowboys used the franchise tag on their now top running back, Tony Pollard. The difference is that Pollard signed his tender and will be ready Week 1 barring injury.