For the past several weeks, it has been widely expected that the New York Giants would not use a franchise tag to keep star running back Saquon Barkley with the team next season, allowing him to become a free agent next month. But as it turns out, that might not be the case, after all.
During a recent interview with Pro Football Talk on PFT Live, New York Giants general manager Joe Schoen opened up about a sudden change that has the team reconsidering their plans regarding Saquon Barkley.
As Schoen explained, the team was expecting the salary cap to be set at around $243 million. So when the league announced the new salary cap of $255.4 million – more than $12 million more than they were expecting – they suddenly had a lot more flexibility and had to reconsider some things.
“We got a little curveball on Friday afternoon,” Schoen said. “We were around the 243 range, is kind of where we were estimating, so when I opened the email I was like, ‘Oh, my gosh.’ Now we have a little more flexibility. We were in good shape as it was, but now we have more options on the table, not only for our players, but for players outside our organization who may come into the mix as well.”
As a result of the surprise salary cap increase, Schoen said that the team is considering “all options” with regard to Barkley’s status and future with the team.
“All options are on the table. I’m not saying we’re going to franchise him or not franchise him, but everything’s on the table,” Schoen said.
We’ll have to see what happens, but it doesn’t sound like a franchise tag is off the table.
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