Giants’ Saquon Barkley calls cap on Florio, complicated trade rumor

Hours after the New York Giants finally locked up running back Saquon Barkley for the 2023 season via a one-year deal, a trade rumor involving Barkley popped up that has since mostly been refuted.

It all started with Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk, who reported that Barkley’s representatives requested the Giants explore trading the star running back after they franchise-tagged him earlier this year.

Florio then went on to say that the Giants made calls to about a dozen teams, but had no takers.

Per multiple sources, the Giants called a dozen teams in an effort to find a potential trade partner, back in the March/April time frame. The calls came at the request of Barkley’s representation.

The Giants obviously found no takers. It’s unclear what they wanted. Barkley was trying to get, we’re told, a contract that pays something in the range of $15 million to $16 million per year.

Barkley has since called “cap” on that, which means he’s saying it isn’t true.

🧢🧢🧢

— Saquon Barkley (@saquon) July 25, 2023

Since then, multiple reports have emerged to mostly refute Florio’s.

According to Bob Brookover of NJ.com, multiple sources have confirmed that while the Giants considered it, they never actively tried to trade him.

Further, Ryan Dunleavy of the New York Post reports that while Barkley’s reps indeed requested he be shopped to shape the market, Barkley himself did not request a trade.

Adding to that, Dunleavy notes that the Giants did not consider the request because of how much they value Barkley.

But wait, there’s more…

The Giants did receive at least two calls for the 26-year-old, one of which came from the Miami Dolphins, but the “talks went nowhere,” as the Giants were never interested in dealing Barkley, nor were they ever interested in rescinding the franchise tag, also per Dunleavy.

So, before #Dolphins were interested in free agent Dalvin Cook, they called #Giants to inquire a Saquon Barkley trade, I’m told. Talks went nowhere. #NYG were never interested in trading Saquon or rescinding his tag. https://t.co/S8VU6qVdTq

— Ryan Dunleavy (@rydunleavy) July 25, 2023

So, based on all that, Florio’s report is only partly right in the sense that Barkley’s reps did request he be shopped, but it looks like the Giants never considered trading him, let alone did they make calls to try and do so. And, it’s also important to note that Barkley himself never asked to be shopped.