A win over the Colts on Sunday will earn the New York Giants their first playoff berth since 2016. The club hopes to retain the two key players on offense who helped get them there.
NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport reports that the Giants view quarterback Daniel Jones and running back Saquon Barkley as part of the club's future in 2023 and beyond, per sources.
"Both of these guys are free agents. The Giants do plan to attempt to work out a deal with both of these guys," Rapoport said Sunday on NFL GameDay Morning. "Obviously the franchise tag is available. You can only tag one, so in this scenario, one would need a multi-year deal and one could have tag."
Rapoport adds that the price would have to be right and there won't be a blank check for either, but there is hope within the club to bring back Jones and Barkley following a season where both have put up career-high numbers.
Jones has matured into a game-managing QB who presents a serious threat with his legs in his fourth season in the league. The former first-round pick has thrown for 3,028 yards on a 66.5 completion percentage, which stand today as career-best marks, and his 13:5 touchdown-to-interception ratio is a testimony to him improving his mistake-prone ways, including his career-low three fumbles lost. Jones has done it all with a receiving corps decimated by injuries this season, and his career-high 617 rushing yards and five rushing TDs have made him a key component of the team's turnaround.
Barkley's resurgence in 2022 has been a sight for sore eyes in New York. The Giants' playmaker ranks fourth in the NFL in rushing with 1,254 yards (10 touchdowns) and is 54 yards away from putting up his best season as a rusher with two games remaining. Following multiple seasons where injuries have plagued the NFL's Offensive Rookie of the Year in 2018, Barkley hasn't missed a game for the Giants this season and it's amounted to his second trip to the Pro Bowl. Barkley's home-run threat out of the backfield has no doubt made things more habitable for Jones as well, which makes for a good situation that figures to get better going forward.
Giants head coach Brian Daboll has seemingly unlocked the potential of Jones and Barkley in his first season with New York, and apparently the club aims to build on that growth if it makes sense for all parties involved.