Saquon Barkley scrubs mention of Giants from his social media accounts

You can call this a sign of an impasse. Running back Saquon Barkley, who very much wants a long-term deal, has scrubbed all mention of the Giants from his social media accounts.

But, although Giants no longer appears in his bio, Saquon Barkley is letting everyone know his team is foremost on his mind. After all, the running back is retweeting all sorts of comments in regards to his status with the Giants.

Barkley shared a post from 49ers star Christian McCaffrey. The San Fran running back took note of the situations of Barkley, Josh Jacobs and Tony Pollard. All three were franchise-tagged by their teams. Yet none of the three reached a long-term deal.

McCaffrey wrote: “This is Criminal. Three of the best PLAYERS in the entire league, regardless of position.”

Saquon Barkley also retweeted Chargers running back Austin Ekeler. It seems that Ekeler took exception to a tweet posted by ESPN draft analyst Matt Miller. The scout encouraged teams to select a back, give him one franchise tag year, then draft his replacement.

Ekeler tweeted: “This is the kind of trash that has artificially devalued one of the most important positions in the game. Everyone knows it’s tough to win without a top RB and yet they act like we are discardable widgets. I support any RB doing whatever it takes to get his bag.”

The Giants placed the franchise tag on Saquon Barkley back in March. That meant they offered $10.01 million to Barkley for one season. Sides didn’t reach an agreement on a long-term deal before the July 17 deadline.

It’s not likely Barkley will report to training camp with the rest of his teammates next week. And with Barkley likely a no-go, the Giants signed James Robinson this week, a month after the Patriots released him. The Jaguars signed Robinson as an undrafted free agent out of Illinois State in 2020. Robinson dazzled his rookie season, rushing for 1,070 yards with seven touchdowns. He also added 49 catches for 344 yards and three scores. He rushed for 767 yards in 2021 before tearing his Achilles. The Jaguars traded him to the Jets last season. The Patriots signed him to a two-year, $8 million deal, but cut him after concerns about his health.

The Giants still are bringing him to camp. Before the franchise tag deadline passed and before his team signed Robinson, Barkley gave his thoughts about the Giants.

“My leverage is I could say, ‘F–k you’ to the Giants, I could say, ‘F–k you to my teammates,’” Saquon Barkley said “And be like, ‘You want me to show you my worth? You want me to show you how valuable I am to the team? I won’t show up. I won’t play a down.’ And that’s a play I could use.’

“Anybody (who) knows me, knows that’s not something I want to do,” Barkley added. “Is it something that’s crossed my mind? I never thought I would ever do that, but now I’m at a point where I’m like, ‘Jesus, I might have to take it to this level.’ Am I prepared to take it to this level? I don’t know.”