NFL Rumors: Giants Don't Want to Use Franchise Tag on Daniel Jones, Saquon Barkley

The New York Giants are reportedly hoping to retain both quarterback Daniel Jones and running back Saquon Barkley this offseason without using the franchise tag.

According to ESPN's Jeff Darlington on Tuesday's Get Up, sources have indicated that the Giants plan to work on long-term contract extensions with both Jones and Barkley leading up to the March 7 deadline for teams to use their franchise tags.

Darlington noted the Giants are going "back to square one" with Jones in terms of negotiations since he recently changed agents, but he added that it "doesn't mean that anything's going bad with the negotiation."

In the case of Barkley, Darlington reported that a "clear gap" exists between what Barkley is asking and what the Giants want to pay him.

Both Jones and Barkley entered the 2022 season with their jobs on the line after disappointing in previous years, but both had stellar seasons under new head coach Brian Daboll.

Jones, who was the No. 6 overall pick in the 2019 NFL draft, enjoyed the best all-around season of his career. He completed 67.2 percent of his passes for 3,205 yards, 15 touchdowns and five interceptions and also did a ton of damage on the ground with 708 rushing yards and seven scores.

After going second overall in the 2018 NFL draft, Barkley burst onto the scene as a rookie, racking up an NFL-high 2,028 scrimmage yards to go along with 15 touchdowns en route to being named NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year.

Over the next three seasons, Barkley was plagued by injuries and didn't come close to replicating what he accomplished as a rookie.

Barkley finally found his footing again in 2022, however, rushing for 1,312 yards and 10 touchdowns, while also catching 57 passes for 338 yards, leading to his second career Pro Bowl selection.

Jones and Barkley were the driving forces behind the Giants' offensive and team success last season as they went 9-7-1 and reached the playoffs for the first time since 2016.

The Giants did some damage once in the postseason as well, upsetting the Minnesota Vikings on the road in the NFC Wild Card Round before falling to the eventual NFC champion Philadelphia Eagles in the divisional round.

While it isn't definitively known what the asking prices are for Jones and Barkley, some reports have surfaced on that subject recently.

Per ProFootballTalk's Mike Florio, a source indicated that Jones may be seeking as much as $45 million per season, which would make him one of the highest-paid quarterbacks in the NFL at the same rate as Patrick Mahomes of the Kansas City Chiefs and ahead of the Buffalo Bills' Josh Allen.

If Jones holds firm to that reported asking price, the Giants would perhaps be forced into franchising him since he hasn't come close to earning that type of money on a long-term deal yet.

As for Barkley, ESPN's Jordan Raanan reported he turned down an offer exceeding $12 million per season during the Giants' bye week.

Raanan noted that Barkley is "not intent on resetting" the running back market, meaning he may not be gunning for Christian McCaffrey of the San Francisco 49ers, who is the highest-paid running back in the NFL at $16 million per season.

As a result, Raanan theorized the Giants and Barkley may be able to meet in the middle at around $14 million per year.

The Giants would presumably like to build upon the momentum they created last season, and Jones and Barkley are both foundational pieces.

It seems likely that the G-Men will find a way to keep both of them, but doing so without using the franchise tag on one of them is almost certain to require some compromise from all parties involved.