The ‘epiphany’ that brought Saquon Barkley back to Giants after contract drama

Oh yes, Saquon Barkley considered staying away from training camp and even the nuclear option of missing regular-season games.

It was, he reasoned, “a play that I had.’’

In the end, it was a play he did not make.

“Kind of followed my heart,’’ Barkley said Thursday, speaking for the first time since reporting, on time, along with his Giants teammates two days earlier.

It was a wise path for Barkley to follow.

The 26-year-old running back did not get the lucrative multiyear contract he was seeking, and during nearly 10 months of negotiations he learned even more about how the game he loved to play, for free, growing up is not the same as the business he has chosen in the NFL.

The frustration could have consumed him and for a time, he admitted, it was leaning in that direction.

What he called “an epiphany’’ after speaking with several veteran players convinced Barkley to put it behind him.

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He agreed to the one-year franchise tag offer of $10.1 million, plus $900,000 in incentives that trigger only if the Giants make the playoffs, and rejoined his teammates after being away from the team all spring.

“Some people may agree or disagree with this,’’ Barkley said. “To sit out or sit in, I feel this year specifically the best thing I could do for myself would be coming back, going out there and playing the game that I love, playing for my teammates, doing something I’ve wanted to do since I was a little kid.

“I understand, I know what’s going on with the running back situation and me being tagged and the value of the running back continuing to go down. The only way I feel like that’s gonna change, someone’s got to make it change. God willing, hopefully, I can be one of the people to do it.’’

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Showing the magnetism and poise that turned him into an immediate star upon arrival to the Giants in 2018, Barkley delicately and forcefully explained why he turned down three contract offers from the team, admitting “it would be a flat-out lie’’ for him to proclaim he was not disappointed that the Giants did not ante up for him.

He acknowledged the Giants placing the franchise tag on him created leverage he could not overcome.

“I said I wasn’t trying to reset the running back market, I said I wanted something that was respectable,’’ Barkley said. “I don’t want to use the word ‘fair’ because I’m sitting here in New York with 20, 30 cameras on me, I’m also talking to fans and there’s a lot of people that are where I come from that don’t have a lot of money and we’re talking about $10-$11 million.

“That’s a lot of money. I don’t want to say something that’s fair. I want to say something that’s respectable. If I felt like it was something respectable I would have taken it.’’

The offer that Barkley turned down at the deadline to sign a multiyear deal reached $23 million in guaranteed money.

He said out of deference to Giants general manager Joe Schoen, who held the line on this negotiation, and co-owner John Mara he did not want to get into specifics of the contracts that he rejected.

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“Me and my team felt we were in good faith trying to get a deal done,’’ Barkley said. “The Giants felt they were in good faith trying to get a deal done and that’s life. Sometimes you don’t come to an agreement.’’

Barkley did not get the money he was looking for, but quarterback Daniel Jones (four years, $160 million), defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence (four years, $90 million) and left tackle Andrew Thomas (five years, $117.5 million) cashed in this offseason.

Rather than jealousy, Barkley said he felt happiness for his teammates.

“Anybody who knows me, I’m all about my teammates and my brothers getting paid,’’ he said.

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Barkley said he ultimately realized the only way he can increase his value, and the value of all running backs who are seeing salaries trend downward, was to show up and play exceedingly well.

Barkley acknowledged he considered not signing the tag, not reporting to camp and perhaps missing games or even the entire 2023 season.

“I had a mindset of what I was gonna do but I changed my mind,’’ Barkley said, revealing that “wise words of a lot of vets’’ helped sway him in a different direction.

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The advice that resonated was this: “When you show up you can’t have that in your heart.’’

And so he signed and showed up.

“I would say at the end I got respect from the Giants,’’ Barkley said, “because I was able to look Joe in his eye and look [coach Brian Daboll] in his eye and obviously we didn’t come to an agreement but we were able to put everything aside.’’