Giants' Saquon Barkley on being loyal - 'don't mean nothing' - ESPN

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — The business of football has left an indelible mark on New York Giants running back Saquon Barkley, who stated Thursday that «loyalty means nothing.»

Barkley is coming off an offseason in which he failed to reach a long-term deal with the Giants and was franchise-tagged. He reported on the first day of training camp with an adjusted tag for one year at $10.1 million with approximately an additional $900K available in incentives.

Clearly there are scars. Barkley, who leads the Giants with 568 rushing yards, was asked Thursday if being a good soldier and handling a huge workload would be viewed as a benefit when it came to getting a new contract (whether it be in New York or elsewhere) because of his loyalty to the organization.

«Loyalty means nothing,» he said. «Loyalty, that don't mean nothing. No matter how loyal, no matter how committed you are, it's a business at the end of the day. That is something that I have learned.»

The position that Barkley is in now is tricky. He's a free agent again after the season. The Giants (2-8) are struggling but need him desperately. They have the NFL's 32nd-ranked offense and an undrafted third-string quarterback in Tommy DeVito starting.

Barkley playing and receiving a heavy workload could be viewed as detrimental to his value. The mileage on a 26-year-old running back matters.

«Yeah, it's really crazy when you break it down like that. It's just the way the business is,» Barkley said. «When you're a premier back in this league — not to talk about myself — they feed you the ball because it helps you and gives you an opportunity to win games more times than not. And then when it comes to contract or a certain time and you're a running back, you having so much