Giants general manager Joe Schoen met with reporters on Thursday to discuss next week’s NFL Draft, but naturally, Saquon Barkley and Dexter Lawrence’s ongoing contract situations became the hot topic.
On the Barkley front, Schoen said multiple times that “nothing’s changed” since he met with reporters at the owner meetings in late March. At that time, Schoen explained that there was no outstanding long-term offer on the table for Barkley once the Giants decided to place the franchise tag on the running back.
“When we had the conversations with Saquon, it was known that we were going to get to a certain point and then we were going to move on and regroup at some other time,” Schoen said on Thursday.
The Giants placed the non-exclusive franchise tag on Barkley on March 8 after the two sides could not come to terms on a longer deal. SNY NFL Insider Connor Hughes reported that the Giants offered Barkley $12.5 million annually during last season’s bye week and then slightly raised their offer to around $13 million a year after the season.
Barkley, reportedly looking for a number closer to Christian McCaffrey‘s $16 million, turned down both offers. He was noticeably absent from the start of the Giants offseason workout program on Monday.
Schoen was asked what the next steps are with Barkley and whether or not the Giants have a timeline for when their next offer might come.
“I’m just gonna get through the draft right now. My focus right now is solely on that.” he said. “There’s no rush right now. I just want to get through the draft and then step back after that and see what the roster looks like and go from there.”
As for Lawrence, who is still under contract on his rookie fifth-year option but is in search of a longer deal, Schoen said that he has had discussions with the defensive tackle’s representatives this week, and he’s not concerned with Lawrence sitting out during this stage of the offseason.
“I talked to Dexter’s representatives this week, dialogue’s good there,” Schoen said, “Again, it’s hard this time of year. We’re deep in the draft and the draft prep. But yeah, we’ve had good conversations with Dexter’s representatives and we’ll see where that stands here moving forward.”
“It’s voluntary, so if Dexter chooses not to be here, that’s his decision,” Schoen added. “Dexter knows how we feel about him and he knows he’s an important part of the organization. There’s a business side to it too, but him showing up for the offseason program is voluntary.”