If Giants fans thought franchise-related reality TV could get no worse than last year’s Offseason Hard Knocks series, they should think again.
A new documentary focusing on running back Saquon Barkley will tear away the scab and pour a pound of salt into it.
On Thursday, Prime Video unveils the show. That same night, Barkley returns to face the Giants for the second time at MetLife Stadium.
Via Ryan Dunleavy of the New York Post, Barkley asked for permission to seek a trade in July 2023, the final day for signing franchise-tagged players to multi-year contracts.
“I’m not going to do that,” Giants co-owner John Mara tells Barkley. “That makes no sense for us. To be honest with you, it’s not going to be in your long-term best interest to do that. There’s no way that I would allow that at this point. You are too valuable to this franchise.”
It would have been difficult if not impossible for a new team to get Barkley signed to a long-term contract before the 4:00 p.m. ET deadline. A trade most likely would have left the new team with a one-year contract — and no ability to extend it until after the 2023 season ended.
Still, the Giants could have realized that getting some value for Barkley during the 2023 season was better than getting nothing. At the deadline, the Giants were 2-6. And Barkley had rushed for 128 yards on 36 carries in a 13-10 overtime loss to the Jets. The Giants possibly could have found a trade partner — ideally, not one in the NFC East.
The Giants instead allowed him to become a free agent in 2024. Philadelphia was the destination predicted by a close friend of Barkley’s on the day the Giants applied the franchise tag in 2023.
“This isn’t Madden,” Barkley said at the time. “This is my life.”
His life changed permanently when the Eagles snagged him a year later.
It worked out incredibly well for Barkley. Last year, things went better for him than they ever had in his entire NFL career.
“Am I having an MVP-type season if I’m with the New York Giants?” Barkley says during the documentary. “No.”
In October 2024, Barkley had 17 carries for 176 yards in his return to his former home stadium. This year, with Saquon’s production dramatically dipping, maybe it will be the game that gets his season on track.
