Saquon Barkley’s Salary & Why He Really Left the New York Giants, Revealed
If you watched the off-season version of the NFL’s Hard Knocks, you’ll know all about what went down with Philadelphia Eagles star running back Saquon Barkley.
If you don’t know the backstory, the 28-year-old running back (who is celebrating his birthday today), played for the New York Giants from 2018-2023. In 2024 free agency, Giants General Manager Joe Schoen called Saquon, whose contract was up, to discuss next steps.
This was all filmed for Hard Knocks, which aired on HBO.
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In the phone call, Joe told Saquon they were going to let him test out his value with other teams, saying, “I just talked to [your agent] Ed Berry. And I think, just mulling over this, the right thing to do is let you test the market and see what your value is. I don’t want to do the franchise thing, or all that again, I don’t want to go through that, we’ve both been through that. If you really want to be a Giant for life and you’re interested in staying here and coming back, just see what your market is and have Ed come back to us and we’ll see if we can come to an agreement.”
“I mean, I already told you where I want to be, so…” Saquon replied on the other end of the line.
“Alright let’s do that and see what the market says. I think it’s the right thing to do. I love you man, and I appreciate everything you did for the organization the two years I was here, and I’m not saying we’re not gonna get something done but I think it’s right that if for some reason it doesn’t work out that you know that the organization thinks the world of you and everything you’ve done,” Joe said, ending the call.
Saquon ended up leaving the Giants and signing a big new contract with the Eagles. It’s worth noting that the Giants and Eagles are huge division rivals. The Eagles gave Saquon a three-year, $37.75 million contract, and $26 million of that contract is in fully guaranteed money.
Several months after leaving the Giants and signing with the Eagles, Saquon told the “Scoop City” podcast, “It was over after that phone call [with Joe Schoen], in my opinion. It was over after that, because I never in my heart truly believed that they were going to match it, and that they only wanted me for a lower price. So, no matter what, I probably wasn’t going to go back. Like I know my agent went back and talked to them and we gave them the opportunity to match, but the whole time I already removed myself from that.”
He called Joe‘s idea a “slap in the face.”
“I felt like the Giants thought I would go out there and get ($9 million a year), maybe eight, stretch at 10, and then come back to them and it’s like ‘Alright, we got you. If you want to come play at ($9 million), you come play at ($9 million), which I think that truly would have got it done. I think that’s just where they valued me at, where Joe valued me at. He had a price point that he was willing to pay, and he wasn’t going to go over it, and kudos to him for sticking to his gut,” Saquon said. “I kind of felt like it was a little disrespectful, to be honest, because it’s kind of like a slap in the face. ‘You go see what you are worth, and if you are worth that, we’ll see if you’re worth it and maybe we’ll match it.’”
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Posted To:2025 Super Bowl New York Giants Philadelphia Eagles Saquon Barkley Super Bowl
