In this year’s ‘Hard Knocks,’ several unanswered questions from the Giants’ camp were addressed. One of these is how the final call between GM Joe Schoen and Saquon Barkley unfolded before the latter was green-lit to test the waters of free agency. From one lens, it was quite surprising that Barkley wanted to look for a new scenery, however, from his perspective, the situation played out somewhat differently.
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During his sit-down interview with ‘Scoop City,’ Barkley acknowledged that most people didn’t really appreciate his tone during the final call. However, he defended himself by explaining that he always talks that way and that everyone close to him is well aware of this.
Barkley was also frustrated that the team didn’t make an effort to keep him around, and the only way they’d offer him a good deal was by determining his value from how much other teams were going to offer him.
“At that time, I was fed a little bit, to be honest. We talked after the season, they were like, ‘Do you still wanna be a Giant?’ I was like, ‘I already said where I wanna be.’ Like I said on the phone… It kinda felt weird for me. It felt like the only way the Giants wanted me if I was able to go prove that a team would wanna pay me.”
Barkley then mentioned that his ‘I already said where I wanna be’ remark also indicated that the Giants knew about his demands. At the same time, he didn’t want to “continue to come off like I’m begging.” So, from his side, Barkley said what he said to let them know what he was expecting.
While he wanted to be a ‘Giant for life,’ Barkley realized that with the speed of the negotiations and the way they were going, it wouldn’t materialize. And his fear did come true.
That said, there’s another thing that this year’s ‘Hard Knocks’ got wrong.
Was There a Communication Gap Between Barkley and the Front Office?
During the same interview, Barkley expressed that he might have been the focal point of episode 3 of ‘Hard Knocks’ and that most things were portrayed accurately.
However, he felt the show might have implied that the Giants and Barkley’s camp had their lines of communication open and talked regularly to understand the direction of the negotiations. In reality, the situation was quite the opposite:
“In (reality), there wasn’t a lot of conversations with the Giants this offseason. We talked once after the season and then the phone call that everyone saw with me and Joe. Those were the only two conversations that I had with them. And then, afterwards, (we spoke again) when I signed to Philly.”
The star running back made it clear that he wasn’t involved in the internal discussions. He noted that ‘Hard Knocks’ got this part wrong, as he was actually focused on three other teams he was in talks with and eventually chose the Eagles.
For now, Barkley seems to be enjoying his time in Philly. It’s quite a change, considering he spent the last six years in the Big Apple. He has only worn his green and white uniform twice so far. By the time the regular season commences, Barkley will surely be well-adjusted to the team and hopefully carry the pigskin to the end zone even more than he did in his rookie year (11).
