On the premiere episode of HBO’s “Hard Knocks: An Offseason with the New York Giants,” superstar running back Saquon Barkley was understandably the focal point.
The 40-minute show debut featured Giants general manager Joe Schoen and his brain trust discussing Barkley’s potential free agent value, his age, his injury history, and what they could potentially get for him in a tag-and-trade scenario.
The shot-callers were split on their opinions of Barkley, with Schoen suggesting he wasn’t worth the tag value or the gamble of being stuck with a running back on the wrong side of 27. He also didn’t believe — although he wouldn’t completely rule it out — that Barkley would get a significant deal on the open market.
Director of pro scouting Chris Rossetti seemed to disagree with Schoen, asserting that Barkley was the best of the available running backs and even suggesting that the Philadelphia Eagles might pay up, which Schoen dismissed.
Meanwhile, co-owner John Mara expressed his desire to see Barkley remain in blue.
“In a perfect world, I’d still like to have him back,” Mara said. “Until we can prove we can have a decent offense without him.”
Although episode 1 of the show came to a close before the Barkley situation was resolved, we all know how things ended up. He signed a three-year, $37.8 million deal with the Eagles and claimed the Giants never even bothered to make him an offer.
As a new teammate of Barkley’s, Eagles wide receiver A.J. Brown wasn’t too pleased with what he saw on Hard Knocks.
“The Saquon video fired me up and it wasn’t even about me. I’m going to do everything in my power to make sure you get yours fam,” Brown wrote in a since-deleted post on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Why Brown deleted his post or what made him so sour is unclear. The back-and-forth debate on Barkley shouldn’t come as a surprise and there were likely similar conversations happening within the Eagles’ organization before signing him. That’s the nature of football when tens of millions of dollars are at stake.
The Giants, in line with many when it comes to big-money running back contracts, felt Barkley was no longer worth the investment long-term. The Eagles disagreed.
Over the next three seasons, we’ll find out which front office got it right.
