EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – The Giants announced today they have placed the non-exclusive franchise tag on running back Saquon Barkley.
The Giants and Barkley will continue to discuss a long-term contract, a conversation that began during the team's bye week in November.
A franchise tag is basically a one-year deal that grants a window to negotiate a long-term contract. The Giants and Barkley can continue to negotiate a long-term contract until July 17; if they can't reach a multi-year extension, Barkley will play under his franchise tag this season.
The non-exclusive tag pays out an average of the top five tag amounts at the player's position from the previous five years, or 120% of the player's previous year's salary, whichever is greater. Players who receive this tag can negotiate with other teams, but his current team has the right to match any offer -- and would also receive two first-round draft picks in the event the player signs elsewhere.
Barkley was one of three players nominated for the NFL Comeback Player of the Year award after his resurgent 2022 season.
The fifth-year pro started each of the first 16 games before he was inactive in the season finale when coach Brian Daboll rested most of his starters with the team's playoff seeding secure. It was the first time since his 2018 Rookie of the Year season that Barkley did not miss a game due to injury.
Barkley finished with career-high totals of 295 carries for 1,312 yards – the NFL's fourth-highest total - and scored 10 touchdowns, one less than his rookie total. He had 133 more attempts, 719 more yards and eight more rushing touchdowns than he produced in 13 games in 2021. Barkley rushed for more than 100 yards in a game four times, just one less than his combined total for the three seasons from 2019-21.
In addition, he caught 57 passes for 338 yards after he had 41 receptions for 263 yards the previous season.
Barkley finished seventh in the NFL with 1,650 scrimmage yards, almost double his 2021 total of 856.
Barkley was voted a team captain for the fourth consecutive season.
Defensive lineman Leonard Williams was the last Giants player tagged, in both 2020 and 2021. Williams received a non-exclusive franchise tag, which permitted him to negotiate with other teams. Had he signed with another team, the Giants would have received two first-round draft choices as compensation. Williams signed a three-year contract extension one week after he was tagged for the second time.
This is the 30th anniversary of the first time the Giants used a franchise tag, which they placed on tackle Jumbo Elliott in 1993. That year, linebacker Carl Banks received a transition tag (which gives a team the right to match any offer – but no compensation if the player leaves).
Tight end Howard Cross (1994) and running back Rodney Hampton (1996) also received transition tags.
The Giants next used a tag in 2009, when running back Brandon Jacobs was franchised. Punter Steve Weatherford received a franchise tag in 2012.
Defensive lineman Jason Pierre-Paul was tagged in 2015 and 2017. But he never signed the franchise tender in 2015, and it was rescinded after he suffered a serious injury in a fireworks accident on July 4.
View photos of Giants running back Saquon Barkley's time with the New York Giants.