Giants GM Joe Schoen on Potentially Trading Saquon Barkley: 'I'm Open to Everything'

New York Giants general manager Joe Schoen isn't closing the door on anything during his first offseason in his position.

"I'm open to everything," he told reporters when asked if he would consider trading star players, including running back Saquon Barkley.

This could be something of a clean-up offseason for New York as it transitions to a new era with Schoen as general manager and Brian Daboll as head coach. 

Jordan Raanan of ESPN reported former GM Dave Gettleman left Schoen "with a mess" after restructuring past deals for salary-cap purposes. The new GM said he would like to clear approximately $40 million in cap space and focus on the draft, and cutting cornerback James Bradberry and wide receiver Sterling Shepard could help him make inroads.

Raanan also reported the team is likely to pass on picking up quarterback Daniel Jones' fifth-year option for 2023 and instead evaluate how he performs in 2022 with a new head coach.

The report also speculated the Giants could look to trade Barkley to create additional financial flexibility since his fifth-year option that was already picked up guarantees him $7.2 million for the 2022 campaign.

While drafting any running back with the No. 2 overall pick, which New York did with Barkley in 2018, comes with an element of risk in the pass-happy NFL where backs are seen as more easily replaceable, the Penn State product looked well on his way to a dominant career as the Offensive Rookie of the Year in his first season.

Yet his yards per carry dropped from 5.0 to 4.6 from his first to second years, and he suffered a torn ACL that limited him to just two games in his third season.

Barkley didn't look like the same explosive playmaker when he returned in 2021 and finished the season with 593 rushing yards on 3.7 yards per carry.

Perhaps the fact he is just 25 years old and will be a full season removed from the injury will help convince another team to trade for him, and Schoen is not closing the door on that as a possibility as he looks to build the Giants into a contender.