Off-season participation Hard Knocks That’s not ideal for the Giants, and it could be problematic for other teams.
The third episode of the series gives the impression that someone was messing with running back Saquon Barkley.
The show begins with GM Joe Shawn getting a call from Barkley’s agent, Ed Berry. Judging by the rest of the episode and Shawn’s ultra-casual work attire, the call appears to have taken place on Monday, March 11, the weekend before the negotiating period began.
During the conversation, Sean acknowledged that he was willing to wait to see what else Berry had in store before giving the Giants a chance to match that.
“That was really the point,” Sean says, “to go out and find out what it is, and I’d just say, ‘Oh, I can’t do that,’ or, ‘Yes, I can.'”
Berry apparently told Sean what other offers he had — $12.5 million per year, with $25 million guaranteed — and it’s pretty clear that if the Giants make that offer, Barkley will take it.
It’s unclear which team that number came from, though. Later in the episode, Shawn says he heard the Bears inflated the price and the Eagles weren’t there. So it could have been the Bears. Or it could have been the Eagles. Or it could have been someone else.
The next question is whether the NFL will take any action on this. Regarding the Eagles’ direct negotiations with Barkley during the 52-hour negotiating period, the league said: “As with all investigations, If new evidence is discoveredThe league may reopen its investigation.”
If the Eagles were a team that spoke with Berry before March 11, that would count as new evidence, and the potential violation would shift from speaking directly with Barkley after the negotiating window opened to negotiating with Barkley’s representatives. in front The window for negotiations has opened.
The Giants don’t seem to mind, and one could say Sean encouraged the effort to evaluate the market, even if it was done before teams were allowed to share information with player agents.
Technically, it doesn’t matter — cheating is cheating, even if the aggrieved team welcomes it — but as a practical matter, it seems unfair for the league to blame the Eagles or Bears or any other team for participating in a process that gave the Giants the clarity they wanted to determine what to offer Barkley.
