The Giants let a shockingly small amount of money ruin a potential Saquon Barkley reunion

In February, New York Giants general manager Joe Schoen gathered most of the team’s top front office executives in his office to make a franchise-altering decision.

The names in the room included assistant general manager manager Brandon Brown, director of player personnel Tim McDonnell, director of pro scouting Chris Rossetti, senior vice president of football operations Kevin Abrams, director of football operations Ed Triggs, and manager of football administration Charles Tisch. 

Suffice to say, the meeting was not taken lightly. The Giants' decision-makers were gathered to determine the future of their difference-maker, running back Saquon Barkley. Ultimately, Schoen and Co. decided to let him test free agency. The decision reached in that meeting would haunt the team for the foreseeable future. To make matters worse, their mistakes were chronicled on HBO’s “Hard Knocks” series.

The Giants didn’t re-sign Saquon Barkley over pennies on the dollar

Ultimately, the deciding factor to part ways with Barkley came down to a relatively small amount of money. The difference between Barkley’s asking price and New York’s offer came down to $1.5 million guaranteed over three years, according to Ryan Dunleavy of the New York Post. That comes out to $500,000 per year.

Barkley’s largest asking price was reportedly a three-year deal worth $40 million with $26 million guaranteed. The Giants’ initial counteroffer was $39 million with $19.5 million guaranteed. Barkley lowered his asking price to $24.5 million, but New York never went higher than $23 million. 

Instead, Schoen wanted to build around quarterback Daniel Jones, who signed a four-year, $160 million contract extension before the 2023 season. That decision didn’t pan out. In the two seasons after his extension, Jones won only three of his 16 starts. He was benched and subsequently released after leading New York to a 2-8 record this season.

Barkley, who was the heart and soul of the Giants, crossed state lines and signed with the Philadelphia Eagles, a bitter NFC East rival. The Eagles offered Barkley an adequate offensive line for the first time in his career, and he ran with it. Barkley became just the ninth player in NFL history to rush for 2,000 yards in a single season while carrying the Eagles to Super Bowl LIX.

The Giants could have prevented the success of their division rival. After all, this was not a case in which a disgruntled player wanted to leave. In fact, Barkley would have preferred to remain in New York. The Bronx native was a local product with dreams of joining the Giants’ Ring of Honor. After leaving New York, he may just have to settle for the Pro Football Hall of Fame instead.