Joe Schoen explains why Giants let go Saquon Barkley to Eagles - "We had to make a difficult decision"

Saquon Barkley left the New York Giants in free agency after the team failed to make a deal to keep its star running back. However, they were torn to learn that Barkley signed with their division rival, the Philadelphia Eagles, as a result.

The new Hard Knocks season, which is diving deep into the Giants' offseason decisions, told the public how much they were upset that Saquon ended up with the Eagles. Now that the series has been released, general manager Joe Schoen spoke with Fox Sports reporter Peter Schrager about the decision:

It was difficult. It always is. And where our roster is, the different needs that we had and how we're going to allocate our funds that we had, we had to make a difficult decision. And we wish Saquon nothing but the best. Episode one, when we're all in the office, and Chris Rossetti is saying 'Should we trade? Do we not?' We thought we were only gonna have $15 million, and we didn't even know what the cap was at the time.

The Giants used the second overall pick on Saquon Barkley during the 2018 NFL Draft, and he had some very good years with the franchise. Ultimately, they made the wise decision of not offering a running back a second contract, but to see him leaving for a division rival certainly had to hurt.

Did the Eagles make a mistake by signing Saquon Barkley?

Unlike what was seen in 2023, a running back did well in the most recent free agency: Saquon Barkley signed a three-year, $37.75 million ($12.5M average) with the Philadelphia Eagles.

What's impressive about this deal is that $26 million is guaranteed, practically ensuring that the player won't be cut before the end of the 2025 season. That's a move that's not typical of Howie Roseman, the general manager of the Philadelphia Eagles, since he has always opted for cheap names or rookies from lower rounds and avoided spending capital on veterans in the role.

Barkley was 22nd among 24 qualified running backs in the league the previous year. In 2022, he was eighth, but even so, due to a performance built in the first half of the year - his performances dropped a lot after that. After the 2022 bye week, the running back played 22 games and only amassed over 100 rushing yards in two of them.