Saquon Barkley won’t sign franchise tag, won’t report to Giants’ voluntary workouts

Saquon Barkley will not sign the franchise tag and thus will not report when the New York Giants begin their voluntary offseason workout program on Monday, April 17, per a report from Kim Jones of Newsday.

It is no surprise that Barkley would not sign the tag at this point. The deadline for Barkley and his representatives to work out a long-term deal with the Giants is July 17.

The Giants begin Phase 1 of their voluntary offseason program on Monday, and skipping the voluntary workouts is a standard ploy by tagged players to increase pressure on their team to reach a long-term deal. A tagged player cannot participate in the voluntary portion of the offseason without signing a participation agreement,and Joel Corry of CBS Sports says those are “rarely signed.”

The franchise tag value for running backs in 2023 is $10.091 million. Barkley reportedly turned down a contract with an average annual value of more than $12 million during the 2022 season.

Giants general manager Joe Schoen said a few weeks ago that no deal for Barkley was on the table at that time.

“We had some deals out there, and we tried to get a deal done with him and his representatives. And we couldn’t,” Schoen said. “I think both parties knew at the end of the day that this was an option, and if he’s frustrated, I can understand some of that. We could be frustrated as well that we weren’t able to get a deal done. I love Saquon. He’s a good player. He’s going to be a part of this team going forward. We’ll see where it goes from here.”

Schoen added this at the NFL owner’s meetings:

“There’s no outstanding offer right now,” Schoen said. “Once we put the franchise tag on him, we stepped back. We knew throughout the negotiation that there was going to be a time where, if we can’t come to an agreement, we’re going to go to the franchise tag, and that’s what we did.”

Here is an interesting note from FOX Sports NFC East reporter Ralph Vacchiano: