Saquon Barkley said Wednesday he still wants to be a Giant for the rest of his life, but heading into what could be his final game against the team that drafted him No. 2 in 2018, he acknowledged that might not be possible. said he himself knows.
“[Does] Are you thinking of a new start? I think everyone, looking at how the season went, would want a fresh start somewhere else, a clean slate,'' Barkley said. “But that's how I look at it. If I can break into the open market, it's God's plan to go to another team and continue building my own legacy.”
When asked if he still wanted to be a Giants next year, running back answered, “Despite the team giving him the franchise tag a year ago and making no effort to give him an extension since the season started, according to Barkley,” It is said that acquiring a back is not certain. one year ago.
“Um, yeah,” Barclay said. “As I said before, I want to be a Giant for the rest of my life. That was my goal when I got drafted. I wanted to leave something here. That's my goal. It's out of my control. I don't have a say. That's up to the people upstairs, Joe. [Schoen, the GM] And those people. They have to do whatever is best for the team, whatever they feel is best for the team. They will make a decision. If I say like I did last year, “I want to be a Giant for the rest of my life,'' it won't help or hurt anything, so I'll leave it to them. ”
Barkley, who was named the George Young/Ernie Accorsi Good Guy Award recipient by the team's beat writers on Wednesday, turns 27 next month, but where does his career stand compared to other running backs? I am aware of this. And he knows it's not working in his favor, especially considering his injury history.
“I feel like I still have a lot left in me,” Barkley said of himself, before adding that he knows he's closer to the end of his career than the beginning. “There's not a lot left in me. I try to watch my back in front of me.”
Asked if he was open to signing a new contract with the Giants before free agency, Barkley said:I just want something fair [and] That makes sense. I think I was open and honest about it last year. I'm still stuck with it. But I understand. It's business. I hope it's somewhere else, if not here. ”
And he hopes whatever decision he makes doesn't drag on like it did with the Giants last season.
“We're having a retirement meeting and we're definitely going to have that conversation with them,” Barclay said. “I handled the situation the best I could. Obviously, things didn't go the way I wanted, both as a team and as an individual, with the ankle injury. I wanted to do the right thing. Please shoot me straight and let me know how it goes and let me decide.”
