Saquon Barkley’s time with the Giants is one step closer to reaching the end.
The Giants did not franchise tag Barkley by Tuesday’s deadline — as The Post first reported was the likely outcome — and thus will allow him to test free agency for the first time in his career when the madness gets underway Monday.
It is not necessarily the end of a six-year union because the two sides could come back together if Barkley doesn’t find the type of “fair” offer that he is seeking, or if the Giants decide to beat his best offer after exploring lesser options in a rotation at running back.
No contract offers were made and no numbers were exchanged by either the Giants or by Barkley’s new agent Ed Berry during the eight-week negotiation window since the season ended, including during a no-hard-feelings face-to-face meeting at the NFL Scouting Combine, sources told The Post.
It was a stark contrast to last offseason when tensions boiled over and Barkley was slapped with the franchise tag (one-year, $10.1 million) after quarterback Daniel Jones signed a last-minute extension on tag deadline day.
The Giants have six days remaining to exclusively negotiate with Barkley, but there is no indication that a deal will get done. In fact, in a strange way, both sides already reached an agreement to let the open market determine the 27-year-old Barkley’s value after their final negotiations last July ended with a small gap unclosed once he turned down the Giants’ best offer of $23 million guaranteed over a three-year contract.
Barkley was angry when the Giants tagged him last offseason but ultimately signed the tender and did not skip even one training practice, while the Raiders’ Josh Jacobs held out for money added to his tag price.
A second consecutive tag would have been worth $12.1 million in 2024 but likely would have further angered the two-time Pro Bowler and two-time Walter Payton Man of the Year nominee because he sees this offseason as his last chance to cash in on a multiyear contract.
General manager Joe Schoen still was floating the tag possibility as leverage last week — nearly 70 weeks after the Giants made an initial extension offer high on average annual value but low on guaranteed money.
The decision not to tag Barkley calls into question Schoen not trading Barkley for draft capital when the Giants were 2-6 at the in-season deadline.
The Giants still are interested in retaining Barkley at their price — Schoen’s analytics-based belief is that running backs experience a dip in production beginning in their age-27 season — and Barkley still harbors dreams of being a career-long Giant, sources said.
Barkley could bring his best offer back to the Giants before signing but is under no obligation to do so, and the Giants could wait to sign a running back until he makes his decision but Schoen already has mentioned second-tier backs like Zack Moss and Devin Singletary (both of whom he had a hand in drafting to the Bills).
The Texans, Cowboys and Eagles are among potential suitors that could offer Barkley a better chance to reach the playoffs and better blocking to improve his production and build the kind of all-time legacy that he desires.
Few running backs have been forced to do more with less than Barkley, who has averaged 98.8 yards per game from scrimmage with 47 touchdowns in 74 games over six seasons, despite playing with a bottom-three-ranked offensive line in each of the last three seasons, per Pro Football Focus.
Barkley has missed 24 career games due to injuries, which is a cause for concern.
The Giants ranked No. 30 in scoring last season and Barkley accounted for 10 of the offense’s 25 touchdowns.
Letting their best playmaker walk certainly would signal the start of a rebuild, especially with another bona fide weapon, tight end Darren Waller, strongly considering retirement, as first reported by The Post.
No free-agent running back received more than $13.5 million guaranteed on a multiyear contract last offseason.
Jonathan Taylor received nearly twice that amount when he signed an extension with the Colts in October.
Which end of the spectrum Barkley and others in a crowded class of free-agent backs including Jacobs, Derrick Henry, Tony Pollard and Austin Ekeler fall on is a point of league-wide intrigue.
