Saquon Barkley: Giants 'disrespectful' during contract negotiations

Saquon Barkley wasn't happy with the way the New York Giants handled his contract negotiations this offseason before he left for the Philadelphia Eagles in free agency.

The star running back said in an interview on The Athletic's "Scoop City" podcast that it felt "a little disrespectful" that the Giants asked him to bring back an offer to match after hitting the open market rather than making an offer themselves.

"It's kind of like a slap in the face [to say], ‘You go see what you are worth, and then if you're worth that, we'll see if you're worth it, and maybe we'll match it,'" Barkley said. 

New York's decision to let Barkley hit the open market was documented in a recent episode of "Hard Knocks: Offseason With the New York Giants." The episode showed general manager Joe Schoen telling Barkley that the Giants were letting him hit free agency after the two sides failed to reach an agreement on a long-term deal for the second straight offseason. 

On the phone call with Schoen, Barkley said that he had "already" told him that he wanted to remain with the Giants. Barkley told The Athletic that he didn't want to come off as "begging" during that call and that he came to a realization by the end of it.

"It was over after that phone call, in my opinion," Barkley said of his time in New York. "It was over after that because I never in my heart truly believed they were going to match it, or they only wanted me for a lower price."

Ahead of free agency, Barkley admitted that he was "concerned" about the state of the running back market over the past year. However, he said that "a lot of teams" sent him "true offers" when free agency opened, which he thinks might have surprised the Giants based on the contract talks he had with