The New York Giants and Saquon Barkley have had long negotiations on a long-term contract, and have struggled to come to an agreement to this point in the offseason.

Saquon Barkley is currently scheduled to get $10.1 million on the franchise tag for the 2023 season. He has not yet signed his franchise tag tender, so because of that, he will not be in attendance for mandatory minicamp that starts this week. Barkley held a football camp recently, and said he is not ruling out missing games if him and Giants general manager Joe Schoen do not come to a long-term deal by the July 17 deadline. However, that reportedly is not realistic, according to Dan Duggan of The Athletic.

“Barkley had to float the possibility of sitting out the season if a deal isn't reached,” Duggan said in an article for The Athletic. “The threat of withholding his services is the only leverage he has at this stage of the negotiations. But it's inconceivable that he would actually skip the season.”

Duggan noted that Barkley's goal is to be one of the top-paid running backs in the NFL, and foregoing $10.1 would be counterproductive to that. So it seems unlikely that Barkley will do what LeVeon Bell did in 2018 with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Interestingly enough, there is another factor in this for Barkley.

“Even beyond finances, Barkley is ultra-conscious of his legacy and reputation,” Duggan said in an article for The Athletic. “Sitting out a season in his prime would be a major blow to the resume he is trying to build. And it would wreck his carefully crafted image to sit out a season for a team that is finally building toward contention.”

It will be interesting to see if Joe Schoen can come to an agreement that makes these questions irrelevant, or if Barkley will have to play on the franchise tag for the Giants.