Saquon Barkley ‘never truly believed Giants would match free agent offer

Saquon Barkley “never truly believed” the New York Giants intended to match whatever offer he received in free agency this offseason. Barkley revealed his feelings in an exclusive interview with Dianna Russini of The Athletic.

“It [his time with the Giants] was over after that phone call, in my opinion,” Barkley told Russini in a snippet of a podcast interview released Monday. “I never in my heart truly believed that they were going to match it or they only wanted me for a lower price. So, no matter what I probably wasn’t going to go back.”

The full Russini-Barkley interview will air Tuesday on Russini’s ‘Scoop City’ podcast.

The conversation Barkley is referring to was shown on episode 3 of ‘Hard Knocks’. Schoen told Barkley they would let him test the market, and asked if Barkley would then — as had been discussed with his agent — bring that offer back to the Giants.

Barkley, sounding less than enthused while talking to Schoen, said “you know what I want” and did not offer a promise to allow the Giants to match.

We will hear much more on Tuesday, and it will be interesting to compare Barkley’s version to the Giants’ version.