Giants head coach Brian Daboll knew the questions about running back Saquon Barkley would be coming, so he kicked off his Thursday press conference by trying to get in front of them.
Barkley has not signed his franchise tag as he looks for a long-term deal with the Giants and Daboll said in his opening comments that he’s “not going to get into detail” about negotiations between the two sides. That didn’t stop a question about whether he was expecting Barkley to be at minicamp next month, but Daboll didn’t waver from his answer.
“I’m not going to get into any talk about contracts — what could happen, what could not happen — out of respect to the situation,” Daboll said.
Attendance at minicamp is mandatory for players under contract, but Barkley isn’t under contract if he hasn’t signed his tag and there’s little reason to think that he’d change his stance in the next couple of weeks. Assuming that’s the case, July 17 will be the next big date on the Barkley front as that is the deadline for players with tags to sign multi-year contracts before the start of the 2023 season.