'Hard Knocks' highlights Giants' talks with Saquon Barkley ahead of free agency: 'Test the market'

Hard Knocks: Offseason with the New York Giants airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO through July 30 and is available to stream on Max.

The second episode of Hard Knocks: Offseason with the New York Giants provided a unique peek behind the curtain to see how NFL free agency unfolds.

Big Blue entered the offseason with significant questions surrounding pending free agent Saquon Barkley. General manager Joe Schoen made it clear that he didn’t want to do the franchise-tag dance with the running back after the previous year’s tumultuous offseason.

First, Schoen outlined the plan with assistant general manager Brandon Brown wherein the Giants would sell the running back on cementing his legacy in New York with a shot at the Ring of Honor. In the process, the GM made it clear he had a price he didn’t plan to blast past to keep the running back in N.Y.

Then came the phone conversation between Schoen and Barkley’s agent, Ed Berry:

Schoen: “I’ve been dealing with this for a long time, since last November. Here’s where I’m worried: We offer him something, he gets a little pissed off because it’s not what he wants, and some other team comes in a million over us, and he’s pissed at us, he feels disrespected, so he goes. So I’m going to let him go to the market, and if you just want to keep your word, and say, ‘Hey, he said he wants to be a Giant for life, the chance of being in the Ring of Honor, there’s a lot of things out there that he’s got to take into account.’ I think he can still play, it’s just you gotta get the value right. And you look at the data, the data is what it is.”

Berry: “That’s why I’m asking, like, in your room at night when you’re by yourself, are you like, ‘I wouldn’t mind if this kid bounced?’ “

Schoen: “Yeah, I’m torn, Ed, because I still think he can play, and I think he can help us. But I didn’t want to come in on a number because I didn’t really have a great idea of where the market is. That’s why I’m going to let the league tell him what it is, and hey, if you want to come back and be a Giant, let’s try to find something that makes sense. Like, [if] we’re close, then let’s have a conversation, because again I do think he was our best offensive player.”

Schoen then called Saquon to inform the back that they planned to let him hit the market. The GM pushed the RB to give him a chance to match any offer.

Schoen: “So, I just talked to Ed Berry, and I think just mulling over this, the right thing to do is let you test the market and see what your value is. I don’t want to do the franchise [tag] thing or all that stuff again. I don’t want to go through that. We’ve both been through that. If you really want to be a Giant for life and you’re interested in staying here and coming back, just see what your market is and then have Ed come back to us, and we’ll see if we can come to an agreement.”

Barkley: “All right, I appreciate that.”

Schoen: “That sound good?”

Barkley: “Yep.”

Schoen: “Can you give me your word on that, or you not going to give us a chance?”

Barkley: “What do you mean, like circling back?”

Schoen: “Yeah.”

Barkley: “I mean, I already told you where I want to be, so …”

Schoen: “OK. Alright, well, let’s do that. We’ll go out and see what the market says. I think that’s the right thing to do. I love you, man. I appreciate everything you did for the organization the two years I was here, and I’m not saying we’re not going to get something done, but if for some reason it doesn’t work out, that you know that the organization thinks the world of you and everything you’ve done. But hopefully you go out there, you see the market, and you say, ‘you know what I want to be here,’ and you give us a shout back.”

Barkley: “Alright, I appreciate y’all.”

Ultimately, Barkley signed a three-year, $37.75 million deal with the division rival Philadelphia Eagles. Given the running back’s clipped responses, it sounded like he knew he’d probably wind up elsewhere, with the Giants’ brass planning to stick to their number for the 27-year-old back.

In upcoming episodes, we’ll see whether the Giants did, in fact, get a chance to match the Eagles’ offer and how the club, including co-owner John Mara, reacts to the departure of the former No. 2 overall pick.