Saquon Barkley\u2019s bitterness toward the New York Giants and the business of the NFL shows through loud and clear in the new \u201cSAQUON\u201d documentary debuting Thursday morning on Amazon Prime Video. And, yes, the video was timed to coincide with the Giants facing the Philadelphia Eagles Thursday night on Prime.<\/p>\n
Barkley\u2019s belief that the Giants were just trying to use him up before sending him on his way was crystal clear in a phone conversation he had after a 35-carry game against the Houston Texans in 2022, when his contract had become front and center.<\/p>\n
He called a conversation he had with the Giants prior to that game \u201ca joke.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThey literally spit in my face,\u201d Barkley said. \u201cAnd then give me the ball 35 times. They really don\u2019t appreciate me. They\u2019re literally just trying to run me into the dirt, get what they can and hopefully something bad happens so you can go somewhere else.\u201d<\/p>\n
Barkley did, of course, go somewhere else.<\/p>\n
Here is another line from Barkley that indicated his frustration with the Giants:<\/p>\n
\u201cThey just make me want to do some s\u2014 that\u2019s not in my character \u2026 they keep telling me I\u2019m the best running back in the NFL. So, pay me like I\u2019m the best running back in the NFL.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe game pushes you to be someone you\u2019re not. They say don\u2019t take business personal. But, it is personal. Everybody wants to be wanted. Whether you\u2019re a 6-year-old kid or whether you\u2019re a 27-year-old NFL star.\u201d<\/p>\n
Here are some of the takeaways from the 90-minute documentary, which I was able to preview on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Mara: Trade \u201cmakes no sense for us\u201d<\/p>\n
At one point, just minutes before the negotiating window ended and Barkley would be forced to sign the franchise tag or sit out, he point-blank asked owner John Mara if he would allow GM Joe Schoen to trade him. The answer was no.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo, Saquon. I\u2019m not gonna do that,\u201d Mara said. \u201cThat makes no sense for us. To be honest with you, it\u2019s not going to be in your long-term best interest to do that. There\u2019s no way that I would allow him to trade you at this point, no. I\u2019m just being honest with you. You are too valuable to this franchise.\u201d<\/p>\n
Barkley\u2019s closed eyes and body language on hearing that told you how he felt.<\/p>\n
Mara told Barkley \u201cwe can agree to disagree on the numbers\u201d but that \u201cwe\u2019re going over and above.\u201d<\/p>\n
Barkley told his agent, Ed Berry, that \u201cI feel trapped.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201dAre they trying to actually get this done?\u201d<\/p>\n
Throughout the two offseasons the Giants and Barkley discussed a contract, it was clear that Barkley never really believed the Giants wanted to get a long-term deal with him.<\/p>\n
That was clear after the Giants tagged him in 2022, when the two sides tried to work out a deal before the deadline that would force Barkley to play on the tag.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll this is is the principle. I would sign for $11 million dollars, $10 million dollars if it was operated a whole different way,\u201d Barkley said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAre they trying to actually get this done?<\/p>\n
\u201cRunning backs have the shortest life span, which is not false. But, they\u2019ll give you the ball 300 times and then say we can\u2019t pay because of wear and tear on your body.\u201d<\/p>\n
Barkley remembers being in a bad place emotionally right before he tore up his knee against the Chicago Bears in 2021. He was angry after Giants legend Tiki Barber had said that Barkley \u201cmight not be an every down back\u201d b\/c of pass protection issues and that \u201cHe doesn\u2019t want to hit anybody. He\u2019s a big man who wants to play small.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI was in a place where I was not playing the game for the love of it.,\u201d Barkley said. I was gonna force a great performance the next week. I even thought about buying a Tiki Barber jersey and wearing a Tiki Barber jersey after I go for 200 yards. All those idiotic and immature things were running through my head at the time. I\u2019m gonna have the best game of my life.\u201c<\/p>\n
Then, the injury happened.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was just crying,\u201d Barkley said. \u201cI just wanted to throw up. I had to sit in the shower and just let hot water run down me for a good 20 minutes\u201d<\/p>\n
How much did Saquon actually want?<\/p>\n
At one point in the documentary, Barkley was clear that he felt like the best running back in the league and should be paid accordingly.<\/p>\n
Barkley and GM Joe Schoen at one point went back and forth during a phone conversation with Barkley saying he wanted $14-14.5 million annually and Schoen insisting the Giants had \u201cstretched\u201d their budget to get to $13M.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think there\u2019s a better running back in the NFL right now. So, I should be paid as the highest running back in the NFL,\u201d Barkley said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey keep telling me I\u2019m the best running back in the NFL. So, pay me like I\u2019m the best running back in the NFL. And I want a long-term deal. I deal that shows you see me as part of the future \u2026 if you do not see me in that, trade me.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just want to get paid what I can actually get paid.\u201d<\/p>\n
Barkley said that in the end he just did not feel treated fairly.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wasn\u2019t going to try to break the bank. All I wanted was a fair negotiation. Not just my back against the wall, you use the tag deadline against me. Like, take this or not.\u201d<\/p>\n
As free agency approached, Barkley\u2019s frustration with the Giants remained obvious.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve done nothing but represent this organization the right way. It don\u2019t gotta be like this. It could be simple. It\u2019s insane,\u201d Barkley said. \u201cI can\u2019t go nowhere. And you know why I can\u2019t go nowhere? I can\u2019t go nowhere because I do it the right way.\u201d<\/p>\n
After signing with the Eagles Barkley said he did not want to sound like \u201cthe bitter ex.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201dAll I wanted was an opportunity to go and see what I\u2019m worth, and then match it,\u201d Barkley said.<\/p>\n
The Giants chose not to match the Eagles\u2019 offer, of course.<\/p>\n
Saquon knows he is in a better place<\/p>\n
Barkley, of course, ran for a historic 2,005 yards and the Eagles won the Super Bowl lat season. He knows that doesn\u2019t happen if he stays with the Giants.<\/p>\n
\u201cAm I having an MVP-caliber season if I\u2019m with the New York Giants this year? No. I year ago I was ass. I lost a step. I wasn\u2019t this. Is he really worth it? Now I\u2019m an offensive Player of the Year, MVP candidate,\u201d barkley said.<\/p>\n
Saquon\u2019s daughter is a star<\/p>\n
Barkley\u2019s daughter, Jayda, who said at one point before her daddy joined his new team that \u201cI think you should be on the Eagles\u201d is a star. Giants fans will hate it, but watching her lean into the camera and sing \u201cfly, Eagles, fly\u201d was endearing.<\/p>\n
It was also fun to watch Barkley dote on Jayda and his youngest child, Saquon Jr. It was a reminder that these athletes, no matter how rich or famous, have lives away from the game and people that are important to them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Saquon Barkley\u2019s bitterness toward the New York Giants and the business of the NFL shows through loud and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":211570,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[3267,349,99],"class_list":["post-211569","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-new-york-giants-news","tag-nfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211569","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=211569"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211569\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/211570"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=211569"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=211569"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=211569"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}