Ian Rapoport on Twitter: "Surprise! The #Giants and star RB Saquon Barkley agreed to terms on a new 1-year deal worth up to $11M, sources say, as Barkley gives himself a chance to beat the franchise tag. He gets a $2M signing bonus. Bottom line: Barkley is coming in & will be at training camp. https://t.co/A5PR7RWLfQ" / Twitter
I guess Barkley deserves some credit for betting on himself, but he'd better not get hurt, and he'd better have an excellent year, or he won't be getting that $13.2 million franchise tag next year, and end up regretting not signing the two-year offer they made to him. This is obviously a win for the Giants, but the NFLPA must be thrilled to see this go away too. The other people on the running back Zoom strategy call a couple of days ago must be pissed, however. This completely undercuts any notion of the top running backs holding any power to change the system in their favor. All of the NFL quarterbacks must be happy, too. The solution to this issue is so obvious - just limit the proportion of the cap that any one player can get to (say) 15%, and all of a sudden millions of dollars would be available for running backs and tight ends - but that would of course not only be bad for people like Lamar Jackson, Jalen Hurts, and Aaron Rodgers, it would also be bad for people like Daniel Jones, since the franchise tag for QBs would plunge.
The big story this offseason besides Rodgers is that the RB market has completely fallen off a cliff. Curious timing for a decision like this.
