Saquon Barkley Breaks Silence on Decision To Leave the Giants

The Saquon Barkley and New York Giants drama has been going on forever, but it's only been a year in the grand scheme. This goes back to last offseason when Giants general manager Joe Schoen decided to place the franchise tag on the star running back and offer quarterback Daniel Jones an extension instead.

Flash forward to this offseason, Schoen and the Giants decided to let the three-time Pro Bowler test free agency, and they would match the best offer.

While Saquon stated numerous times he wanted to be a 'Giant for Life,' he took an offer from the division rival Philadelphia Eagles, and the G-Men decided to move on and focus on improving other positional needs.

We have gotten a behind-the-scenes look at this process from Schoen and the Giants' perspective in the offseason edition of HBO's Hard Knocks, but finally, we are hearing Saquon's side of the story.

Barkley sat down with The Athletic's Dianna Russini to discuss his departure from the Giants and why he chose to join the Eagles in free agency.

Let's say if this story wasn't already entertaining enough, it just got even better. The conversation starts at the 16:30 mark when Barkley immediately addresses the elephant in the room and discusses his free agency process.

Barkley shouts out Hard Knocks on an excellent depiction of what this process has been like for him and the Giants. He also shouts out the Giants organization and says that he did want to be a 'Giant for Life.'

Barkley also stated that he understands the hate he gets from Big Blue Nation on social media and even laughs at some of the nicknames he's gotten such as 'Snake-quon,' but Giants fans want to hear the juicy drama, which is the contract talks with the G-Men this offseason.

""I kind of felt like it was kind of a little disrespectful, to be honest," Barkley said (23:20 mark) when discussing the Giants having him test the market and then come back to see if they would match the offer. "It's kind of like a slap in the face," Barkley added when talking about his phone call with Schoen, shown in last week's episode of Hard Knocks. He said that, at that moment, he realized his tenure with the Giants was likely over."

Saquon would've liked the Giants to be open with him when the free agency window opened and tell him they value him rather than figure out his value. Barkley clarified that he understands Giants fans' frustration and apologized for the way he broke the news when he signed with the Philadelphia Eagles on X.

The veteran stated he had a tribute video he wanted to post thanking Giants fans but was upset at the moment by the comments being made on social media. He also said that he's still had good interactions with Giants fans in person since signing with the Eagles.

Barkley's decision to sign with the Eagles was clear. He's from the Philadelphia area and has family that still lives there.

Barkley also earned an offer from the organization he felt he deserved and believes the team could win multiple Super Bowls. Saquon was thankful for his time with the Giants, but he looks forward to this next chapter with the Eagles.

While Barkley has given a lot to the Giants organization over the last six years and may have wanted to play out his career in New York, this will still hurt Big Blue fans. Many Giants fans will never forgive Barkley for his decision to sign with a division rival, and I'm sure Barkley will hear the boos when he returns to MetLife Stadium.

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