Story the other day that things aren't looking great between the New York Giants and Saquon Barkley. The team used the franchise tag on him, so he's not playing anywhere else this year. But work needs to be done before he plays for the Giants, and early signs aren't great.
According to beat writer Ralph Vacchiano, the Giants don't have any interest in signing Barkley to a multi-year deal, while Barkley himself doesn't have any interest in playing under the franchise tag. Something has to give. Barkley turned down a multi-year deal during the season, and that offer might not still be there anyway.
It's early, and the use of the tag indicates the team wants him back. Not the time to panic. But something to keep in the back of your head if you're in an early best-ball draft. There will need to be some bending on both sides to get a deal done.
I had it in my head that Barkley was a lot better the first half of last year than the second half. I used the search tools at pro-football-reference.com to compare Barkley's performance in the first eight games compared to the last eight. I was right...but the disparity wasn't as great as I thought. While he was better the first half of the season, he was still pretty good in the second half.
The greatest difference was as a runner. Barkley ran for 246 more yards the first eight games than the last eight; that's 31 rushing yards per game, 97 versus 66.
But receiving numbers were pretty similar (receptions identical, and yards 24 per game versus 19), as were touchdowns (5 each half). And fantasy-wise, he was still one of the best backs in the league the second half of the year.
Table shows stats for all running backs who started at least half the season, sorted by PPR points per game. First-half Barkley was 3rd. Second-half Barkley was 7th. Still pretty good.
| RUNNING BACKS, FANTASY POINTS PER GAME | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | G | Run | No | Rec | TD | PPR | FF/G |
| Austin Ekeler, LAC | 17 | 915 | 107 | 722 | 18 | 378.7 | 22.3 |
| Christian McCaffrey, 2TM | 17 | 1139 | 85 | 741 | 13 | 356.7 | 21.0 |
| Saquon Barkley (1st half) | 8 | 779 | 28 | 189 | 5 | 156.8 | 19.6 |
| Josh Jacobs, L.V. | 17 | 1653 | 53 | 400 | 12 | 330.3 | 19.4 |
| Derrick Henry, Ten. | 16 | 1538 | 33 | 398 | 13 | 308.8 | 19.3 |
| Joe Mixon, Cin. | 14 | 814 | 60 | 441 | 9 | 239.5 | 17.1 |
| Nick Chubb, Cle. | 17 | 1525 | 27 | 239 | 13 | 283.4 | 16.7 |
| Saquon Barkley (2nd half) | 8 | 533 | 29 | 149 | 5 | 127.2 | 15.9 |
| James Conner, Ari. | 13 | 782 | 46 | 300 | 8 | 202.2 | 15.6 |
| Tony Pollard, Dall. | 16 | 1007 | 39 | 371 | 12 | 248.8 | 15.6 |
| Aaron Jones, G.B. | 17 | 1121 | 59 | 395 | 7 | 254.6 | 15.0 |
| Rhamondre Stevenson, N.E. | 17 | 1040 | 69 | 421 | 6 | 251.1 | 14.8 |
| Alvin Kamara, N.O. | 15 | 897 | 57 | 490 | 4 | 219.7 | 14.6 |
| Dalvin Cook, Min. | 17 | 1173 | 39 | 295 | 10 | 245.8 | 14.5 |
| Leonard Fournette, T.B. | 16 | 668 | 73 | 523 | 6 | 228.1 | 14.3 |
| Jonathan Taylor, Ind. | 11 | 861 | 28 | 143 | 4 | 152.4 | 13.9 |
| D'Andre Swift, Det. | 14 | 542 | 48 | 389 | 8 | 191.1 | 13.7 |
| Jamaal Williams, Det. | 17 | 1066 | 12 | 73 | 17 | 229.9 | 13.5 |
| Kenneth Walker, Sea. | 15 | 1050 | 27 | 165 | 9 | 202.5 | 13.5 |
| Najee Harris, Pitt. | 17 | 1034 | 41 | 229 | 10 | 227.5 | 13.4 |
| Dameon Pierce, Hou. | 13 | 939 | 30 | 165 | 5 | 170.4 | 13.1 |
| Miles Sanders, Phil. | 17 | 1269 | 20 | 78 | 11 | 220.7 | 13.0 |
| Travis Etienne, Jac. | 17 | 1125 | 35 | 316 | 5 | 211.1 | 12.4 |
| Ezekiel Elliott, Dall. | 15 | 876 | 17 | 92 | 12 | 185.8 | 12.4 |
| Cordarrelle Patterson, Atl. | 13 | 695 | 21 | 122 | 9 | 156.7 | 12.1 |
| Latavius Murray, 2TM | 13 | 760 | 27 | 132 | 6 | 154.2 | 11.9 |
| Devin Singletary, Buff. | 16 | 819 | 38 | 280 | 6 | 183.9 | 11.5 |
| David Montgomery, Chi. | 16 | 801 | 34 | 316 | 6 | 181.7 | 11.4 |
| Raheem Mostert, Mia. | 16 | 891 | 31 | 202 | 5 | 170.3 | 10.6 |
| Jeff Wilson, 2TM | 16 | 860 | 22 | 185 | 6 | 162.5 | 10.2 |
| J.K. Dobbins, Balt. | 8 | 520 | 7 | 42 | 3 | 81.2 | 10.2 |
| Tyler Allgeier, Atl. | 16 | 1035 | 16 | 139 | 4 | 159.4 | 10.0 |
| Cam Akers, LAR | 15 | 786 | 13 | 117 | 7 | 145.3 | 9.7 |
| Brian Robinson, Was. | 12 | 797 | 9 | 60 | 3 | 112.7 | 9.4 |
| Rachaad White, T.B. | 17 | 481 | 50 | 290 | 3 | 145.1 | 8.5 |
| Damien Harris, N.E. | 11 | 462 | 17 | 97 | 3 | 90.9 | 8.3 |
| Isiah Pacheco, K.C. | 17 | 830 | 13 | 130 | 5 | 139.0 | 8.2 |
| Michael Carter, NYJ | 16 | 402 | 41 | 288 | 3 | 128.0 | 8.0 |
| D'Onta Foreman, Car. | 17 | 914 | 5 | 26 | 5 | 131.0 | 7.7 |
I think things will be worked out; maybe it will take the Giants agreeing to some sort of multi-year deal, or maybe Barkley will settle for one year if it's more than the tag, with some sort of extra bonus. New York needs him, and Barkley also needs to realize what the market is like for running backs these days. As we've discussed here, it's hard for them to win these battles.
--Andy Richardson