Saquon Barkley took to Twitter to blast New York Giants fans Thursday night. They believed they had been given another reason to be angry at him and he urged them to get over it.
Barkley was at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia as the 76ers took on the New York Knicks in Game 6 of their first round NBA playoff series. A newly-minted member of the Philadelphia Eagles, Barkley was there to cheer on the Sixers as they attempted to keep the series alive.
Former Giants, now Eagles RB Saquon Barkley at the Wells Fargo Center for Game 6 between the Knicks and 76ers.
Still feels weird to say former Giant when referring to Saquon after 6 years. pic.twitter.com/LL0EM4hvID
Giants fans couldn’t believe he was in attendance rooting on a rival and made a big stink about it on social media. In response to the hate he was getting online, Barkley tweeted the following.
It’s been two months… lol no way ya can still be this mad! Mf can’t even go to a basketball game 😂😂😂
After six seasons with the Giants, the two-time Pro Bowler left the franchise to join the rival Eagles this offseason. After years of attempting to get a long-term contract out of the Giants, Philadelphia handed him a three-year, $37.75 million deal and he jumped on it. Barkley grew up in Pennsylvania and starred at Penn State, so the move to Philly is also something of a homecoming.
When a Giants fan accused Barkley of bailing on New York, he had a sharp reply. The 27-year-old running back said, “Let me educate some of you fans here… I can’t bail or become a traitor if I never got an offer to come back… so I went to the organization I felt that was the best and after already being here for a month man I’m excited to be a eagle ! Go birds.”
He does have a point. The relationship with the Giants felt broken when the two sides couldn’t agree to a long term deal for more than a year. He played the 2023 season on the non-exclusive franchise tag and New York showed no urgency to lock him up. Maybe he’s right that Giants fans should hurry up and get over his departure.
Welcome to the NFL offseason, where receivers get paid lots of money (just ask Justin Jefferson, A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith, Amon-Ra St. Brown, Jaylen Waddle and Nico Collins), the NFL continues to push for an 18-game season, the league and NFLPA discuss ways to ruin the offseason calendar and teams continue to go through their OTAs and mandatory minicamps.
So we asked our MMQB staff to answer a series of eight questions over the next two weeks. They’ll debate the best and worst moves, the most and least improved teams, the best coaching move and more.
So let’s get to the answers to today’s question as we get closer to the NFL taking a break before July training camps open.
Matt Verderame: The Dallas Cowboys NOT extending Dak Prescott.
Prescott and the Cowboys were pummeled by the Packers in the playoffs. / Tim Heitman-USA TODAY Sports
Prescott is a good player. But despite talented rosters, he has won exactly two playoff games in eight seasons and never reached an NFC championship game.
Furthermore, Prescott turns 31 years old this summer. He’s not likely to get better, and even staying at the same level could be a challenge throughout the duration of what would certainly be an extension-topping contract of $55 million annually. The team around him is also eroding, even if it has major stars in Micah Parsons and CeeDee Lamb.
Throwing for 36 touchdowns and 4,516 yards was great last season, but rings hollow after you’re blown out by the seventh-seeded Green Bay Packers in your own building, partially because of two interceptions.
While losing Prescott after this season would represent a reset, so be it. The goal is trying to win a Super Bowl. Although it’s not only his failure, Prescott hasn’t made a serious run yet at such an achievement. Dallas should be ultra-aggressive and find his replacement in the next 24 months, whether in free agency or the draft, and hope that quarterback has a higher ceiling.
Gilberto Manzano: The San Francisco 49ers NOT trading Deebo Samuel, Brandon Aiyuk.
Aiyuk and Samuel are still with the 49ers despite the team exploring trade offers for both. / Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
The 49ers fielded trade offers for star wide receivers Brandon Aiyuk and Deebo Samuel because they’re well aware of not being able to pay everyone on their loaded roster, especially with quarterback Brock Purdy possibly cashing in next offseason.
But they were smart to have high asking prices for two players who have been instrumental in the team’s success the past few years. The 49ers didn’t cave to lesser offers during draft season and minimized the damage for shopping the two wideouts. Samuel attended the team’s OTA workouts, a good sign that the 49ers probably kept him in the loop with their business matters. And Aiyuk wasn’t going to show up without an extension.
So no harm in exploring options. Either quickly reload with valuable draft picks or run it back with the same cast of star players. The 49ers’ core group will get another opportunity to end the organization’s 30-year Super Bowl drought. Oh, and they added more firepower with the first-round selection of wide receiver Ricky Pearsall, who could fill in if Aiyuk is traded during the summer, which doesn’t appear likely, or next year if he leaves in free agency. The good teams create options.
Conor Orr: The Detroit Lions SIGNING D.J. Reader.
Reader could have been among the best free agents this offseason. / Kareem Elgazzar/The Enquirer / USA TODAY
This is the kind of signing (two years, $22 million) no one is really going to talk about until mid-November when the Lions have one of the best run defenses in the NFL and Reader is mauling inferior offensive linemen en route to another artful tackle behind the line of scrimmage. I really think he was among the best free agents this offseason in terms of a player who you know is going to fit into any scheme and perform incredibly well. He’s a Dan Campbell-type of player.
Albert Breer: The New York Giants TRADING for Carolina Panthers edge rusher Brian Burns.
The Giants landed Burns from the Panthers for second- and fifth-round picks. / Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports
Going back to the middle of the 2022 season—when Carolina turned down first-round picks in ’24 and ’25, and a ’23 third-rounder for Burns at the trade deadline from the Los Angeles Rams—things were sideways for Burns in Charlotte. How could they not be? Negotiations were basically nonexistent from that point forward, the team was terrible, and Burns had to wait for his pot of gold. Because of all of that, the Giants landed him for a fraction (a second-rounder and a fifth-round pick swap) of what the Rams offered, and got him signed to a reasonable market contract (five years, $141 million) to play opposite Kayvon Thibodeaux. And they still had the second-rounder they got for Leonard Williams at last year’s deadline, along with a motivated 26-year-old edge rusher under contract for the next five years.
The New York Giants opted not to select a quarterback in the 2024 NFL draft, leaving Daniel Jones, Drew Lock and Tommy DeVito as the trio of QBs on the current roster.
One NFL insider believes that a quarterback competition could be on the cards for the Giants, hinting that Daniel Jones's status as the starter may not be all that secure.
"I believe Drew Lock has a really good shot on winning that job," NFL Network's Daniel Jeremiah said, via Gregg Rosenthal. "They were comparing Daniel Jones and Drew Lock, emphasis on Drew Lock, to the QBs that were going to be there (at the No. 6 pick in the draft) and the line for them was Drake Maye."
Lock made the move to New York this offseason on a one-year, $5 million deal. In March, the 27-year-old told reporters that it had been "conveyed" to him by the team that Jones was going to be the Giants' starting quarterback.
That differs from what Seattle Seahawks GM John Schneider said when Lock signed with New York. At the time, Schneider said during a radio appearance that the Seahawks attempted to re-sign Lock, but he was lured to the Giants under the pretense that he could compete for the starting role.
Giants GM Joe Schoen said (via ESPN) that Jones, who signed a four-year, $160 million extension last March, would remain the team's starter in 2024. Jeremiah indicated Wednesday, however, that he believes Lock could make a push for the starting job.
After a strong campaign in '23, Jones featured in just six games last year before missing the rest of the season with a torn ACL. He struggled when healthy, throwing two touchdowns to six interceptions and coughing up four fumbles.
It's possible Jones will be on a short leash in '24, and Jeremiah suggested that Lock could outright usurp him for the role ahead of the season.
In Lock's lone season with the Seahawks, he appeared in four games, including two starts, and completed 63.2% of his passes for 543 yards and three touchdowns to three interceptions.
New York Giants tight end Darren Waller is planning to retire from the NFL, as he reportedly informed the team on Sunday, per NFL Network's Ian Rapoport.
The decision wasn't too much of a shock as Waller has been teasing a retirement announcement during most of the offseason. He wanted to let the Giants know about his future before the start of minicamp.
The 31-year-old played just one season with the Giants, finishing with 52 catches for 552 yards and one touchdown in 12 games while battling a hamstring injury. He had three years left on his contract with the team, but now the Giants will gain around $11.6 million in cap space.
Sources: #Giants TE Darren Waller has informed the team he plans to retire, walking away at the age of 31 after just one season with NYG.
Waller hasn’t attended workouts, and the team had known for some time he may not play. Now, he’s officially let them know before minicamp. pic.twitter.com/1ZTmj1VX2m
Waller's NFL career began in 2015 when he was drafted in the sixth round by the Baltimore Ravens. He played just two seasons there as he was suspended the entirety of the 2017 season after violating the league's substance-abuse policy.
After Baltimore, Waller was picked up mid-season in 2018 by the Las Vegas Raiders. He played there until the end of the '22 season. He earned one Pro Bowl honor in his NFL career.
