No extensions for Giants’ Saquon Barkley, Raiders’ Josh Jacobs as NFL franchise tag deadline expires
After months of fruitless negotiations, the New York Giants’ Saquon Barkley and Las Vegas Raiders’ Josh Jacobs won’t be securing contract extensions in 2023.
The NFL’s franchise tag deadline for new deals expired at 4 p.m. ET without a breakthrough in talks for either running back. That means each will have to play out the 2023 season on a one-year deal for $10.1 million — or consider not playing at all. Sources close to Barkley and Jacobs told Yahoo Sports that each would weigh their options if a new deal wasn’t reached, including potentially sitting out portions of training camp or regular-season games.
Barkley appeared to react to the passing of the deadline on Twitter:
It is what it is
— Saquon Barkley (@saquon) July 17, 2023
While the motivations of the Giants and Raiders varied in their talks, the failure to reach new deals largely orbits around the continued deflation of running back contracts. Barkley was seeking a contract extension with at least $22.2 million in guaranteed money, which would have mirrored the guarantees of consecutive franchise tags. A new deal for Jacobs would have also necessitated a similar floor in guarantees.
The remaining options for both players now narrow into four avenues:
Sign the one-year tag and report to training camp to play out the 2023 season for $10.1 million
Refuse to immediately sign the tag and sit out all or portions of training camp before reporting for the regular season
Refuse to sign the tag and sit out all of camp and a portion of regular-season games (the deadline for a player to sign a franchise tender or miss the entire season is in November)
Decline to sign the tag altogether and sit out the entirety of the 2023 season
Until they sign their one-year deals, neither Barkley or Jacobs is under contract. That means neither can be fined by their respective teams for missing portions of training camp or the preseason. However, if either fails to sign their deals once the regular season begins, they will forfeit one paycheck for each missed week (salaries are divided into 18 installments, accounting for 17 game weeks and one bye week).
The last player to sit out regular-season games under the franchise tag was former Pittsburgh Steelers running back Le’Veon Bell, who skipped the 2018 season during a tag dispute. The Steelers declined to apply the tag to Bell the following offseason, making him a free agent. He ultimately signed with the New York Jets. Injuries limited him to only 17 games over two seasons that he earned about $28 million, according to Spotrac. He would go on to short-lived stints with the Kansas City Chiefs, Baltimore Ravens and Tampa Bay Buccaneers from in 2021 and 2022. He has not been on an NFL roster since January of 2022.
