Giants running back Saquon Barkley isn’t expected to join the team when they start their offseason program next week.
Barkley received the team’s franchise tag before the start of the new league year, but he has not signed it yet. Kim Jones of Newsday reports that Barkley will not sign the tag before the start of the team’s offseason work and will not be reporting for the first team work of the offseason.
This portion of the offseason program is voluntary, but Barkley isn’t officially under contract with the team without signing the tag so there would be no repercussions for Barkley even if the work was mandatory.
With the market for running backs soft around the league, Cowboys running back Tony Pollard opted to sign his $10.1 million tag. Barkley stands to make the same amount by signing his, but, for now, he’s opting for a different approach than his fellow NFC East back.
If that remains the case through the July deadline for franchise-tagged players to sign long-term deals, Barkley will have to make a choice about whether to report to training camp under the terms of the tag.
