The New York Giants and running back Saquon Barkley were unable to come to an agreement on a long-term contract ahead of the 4 p.m. ET deadline on July 17, but despite the fact that Barkley said he had a meeting with Giants owner John Mara that led him to tell his agents to get the deal done, according to Pat Leonard of the New York Daily News.

“That was the only time I really got involved in the negotiation process,” Saquon Barkley said in a podcast interview, according to Leonard. “I sat down with the owner. The owner told me what it was, told me how they care about me. And this was when we were still going tit for tat [with offers] … The owner opened up to me. And I respected that. Like you called me in as a man, you sat me down as a man, we looked each other eye to eye, told me how much you feel about me.”

John Mara has said publicly that he wants Barkley to be a Giant for life, and it would be surprising if he did not express those same sentiments in the meeting with him. Barkley reciprocated those feelings to both Mara and co-owner Steve Tisch.

“I let you [Mara] know how much I feel about this place, how much I feel about your family, … how much I feel about [Steve] Tisch's family,” Barkley said, according to Leonard. “That's when I picked up the phone and I called my agent and I was like, ‘I don't care, let's get it done. Like boom, this is where I want to be, this is the number I'm fine with, boom, let's get there.'”

Barkley said the franchise tag changed the tenor of talks, and the urgency the Giants had to talk about a deal.

“When you get tagged, now they have the tag, now it's like, ‘You know what Saquon? If we really want to, we don't have to offer you anything,'” Barkley said, according to Leonard.

It appears Barkley has high thoughts regarding Mara and Steve Tisch, despite not getting a deal done.