Saquon Barkley gives Giants another warning about missing games

Nov 28, 2021; East Rutherford, New Jersey, USA; New York Giants running back Saquon Barkley (26) during warm ups before the game against the Philadelphia Eagles at MetLife Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports

Saquon Barkley is certainly not backing down in the midst of his franchise tag dispute with the New York Giants.

The running back appeared in a new episode of “The Money Matters Podcast” posted Tuesday. Barkley described his leverage in his standoff with the Giants, once again raising the possibility of missing regular season games due to his current tag status.

“My leverage is I could say, ‘f— you’ to the Giants, I could say, ‘f— you to my teammates,'” Barkley said, via Zach Koons of SI. “And be like, ‘You want me to show you my worth? You want me to show you how valuable I am to the team? I won’t show up. I won’t play a down.’ And that’s a play I could use.”

Barkley added, however, that skipping games was “not something I want to do,” and that he would have to talk to his advisers and his family before taking such a drastic step.

That Barkley has brought this up more than once suggests that he is serious about at least considering it. Of course, that strategy also carries plenty of risk. Le’Veon Bell tried to do the same to the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2018, and he pretty clearly regrets it now.

There is very little Barkley and the Giants can do at this point, as the deadline to negotiate a long-term contract for franchise-tagged players passed on Monday. That means that after rushing for 1,312 yards last season, the ball is in Barkley’s court.