There were some surprising teams in the NFL last season, with the New York Giants being amongst them. Their first season under head coach Brian Daboll was a more successful than expected, including a playoff win against the Minnesota Vikings on the road.

Part of that growth on the field had Saquon Barkley as an undeniable factor. The running back returned to his best version being the leader of the offense. He finished with 1,660 total yards, but that hasn’t been enough to get a long-term contract.

The Giants placed the franchise tag on him, so the clock is ticking for that to happen. If the sides can’t get to an agreement before July 17, he will stay with the one-year deal that the tag proposes. However, he might not even accept that.

Could Saquon Barkley copy Ezekiel Elliott’s strategy?

Barkley has not been part of Giants’ mandatory minicamp because of his contract dispute with the team. Something working in his favor is that he won’t be fined for missing those practices considering he hasn’t signed the franchise tag yet.

He won’t do it until he is convinced to play this season, but a new report suggests that seeing the running back at the facilities soon isn’t guaranteed. The running back appears as a “real threat” to miss training camp, according to Jeremy Fowler of ESPN. “He doesn’t seem overly happy with where things fit. He wants what he just considers a fair contract, he’s not looking for record-breaking money. He wants good structure and good guarantees”, he said.

His franchise tag value is just over 10 million dollars, but the player thinks he is worth more than that. If Fowler’s information materializes, Barkley could be doing the same thing that Ezekiel Elliott did to the Dallas Cowboys when he wanted a new deal before signing a six-year contract worth 90M.

What happened between Ezekiel Elliott and the Dallas Cowboys?

Elliott was in a similar situation to Barkley in terms of his role in the offense. The running back was arguably the best in the league at the position in his first three seasons with the team. He was also being used at a very high rate, something that happens with Saquon at the Giants. Although there is one big difference that can’t be discounted.

Zeke had two seasons left on his deal after the team picked up his fifth-year option, while Barkley’s rookie contract has already expired. Theoretically, the Cowboys had the leverage of having Elliott under contract. On top of that they were going to have the chance to tag him as New York did after playing out those years, but they folded.

The RB was the biggest headline in Dallas’ training camp back in 2019. Not because he was making plays during practice, but for training on his own in Cabo. Zeke ended up missing the entirety of the team’s preparation until he signed his contract. The deal got done just a few days before Week 1, so that’s an ending that could happen in this situation.