Saquon Barkley, Giants haven’t talked in 3 weeks, per GM Joe Schoen

New York Giants general manager Joe Schoen said on Thursday that “nothing’s changed” with Saquon Barkley and that he has not spoken to the star running back in three weeks.

The Giants placed the franchise tag, worth $10.091 million, on Barkley this offseason. To date, Barkley has not signed it and is not participating in the team’s voluntary offseason program.

Schoen said he doesn’t know Barkley’s intentions at this point when it comes to signing the tag or reporting to the team.

“You have to ask him,” Schoen said. “I’m not sure what his plan is. I haven’t talked to him in probably three weeks.”

Barkley has been seeking a long-term contract from the Giants. During the 2022 bye week he reportedly turned down a contract that would have paid him more than $12 million annually.

At last month’s NFL owner’s meetings Schoen said the 2022 offer to Barkley was off the table.

“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 couldn’t come to an agreement, we were going to go to the franchise tag, and that’s what we did.”

Giants co-owner John Mara is on record as saying he wants Barkley to remain a Giant.

“We’d love to have him. He provides leadership. He’s a great player. We’d like to get something done with him at some point,” Mara said at the league meetings. “My dream is that he plays his whole career as a Giant like Eli (Manning) did, like (Michael) Strahan did, like Tiki (Barber) did.”

Maybe that will happen. Schoen, though, said there is “no rush right now” to get a deal done with Barkley.