New York Giants Training Camp: Where Does RB James Robinson Fit In?

In an ideal world, the New York Giants would open their annual training camp with a roster of happy campers eagerly anticipating rounding the team into shape ahead of a very exciting season ahead.

Alas, all is not rosy in the land of the Giants, as their biggest name, running back Saquon Barkley, is not only an unhappy camper but a guy who isn't anticipated to be a camper at all this summer.

Barkley, as we know by now, and the Giants didn't get a multiyear contract done by the July 17 deadline, which means the running back must play on the $10.1 million franchise tag, a move he had desperately hoped to avoid doing.

With most of his leverage gone, Barkley's only remaining ploy now is to skip training camp and train thousands of miles away from his teammates and hope that the Giants make the unprecedented decision to not only increase the franchise tag amount but also to include a promise not to tag him again in 2024.

The Giants, however, aren't expected to do that; it's business as usual for them. New York added running back James Robinson to the roster, a guy who will take some of the snaps Barkley would have otherwise been given this summer.

But is that all Robinson is here for, considering the strong belief that Barkley won't leave $10.1 million on the table this season and that he will, as he did last year when he played on his option year, take the gamble on himself?

To think that would be unfair to Robinson, who has been looking for a new home after the Patriots had a change of heart following their signing of him to a two-year deal. Robinson will not only get some of the snaps that Barkley would have received, but he'll also get an opportunity to compete for a roster spot amid a running back group that, come Week 1 of the season, should include Barkley, Matt Berida, rookie Eric Gray, and at least one of Gary Brightwell and Jashaun Corbin.

As for Barkley, so long as he refuses to sign the franchise tag, he's technically not under contract with the team and hence isn't considered an employee, which could explain why he decided to remove any mention of the Giants from his social media profiles.

If the Giants don't make additional concessions to Barkley, such as a bump in the franchise tag amount or a promise not to tag him again in 2024, Barkley's only remaining power play would be to sign the tag shortly before the 4:00 p.m. ET deadline on September 9 (when Sunday gameday rosters for Week 1 need to be finalized), which would likely result in him not being active for the Giants Week 1 home opener against Dallas, but which would assure him of a paycheck.

Would Barkley go nuclear on the Giants like that? Right now, it's clear that there are some bruised feelings following the failed negotiations, which reportedly came to within $2 million of actually getting done.

And then there is the bigger picture: how Barlkey views himself versus how the Giants view him. During an interview with The Money Matters podcast a week before the negotiating deadline, Barkey spoke of how the Giants viewed him as more of a downhill runner (think Nick Chubb) than a runner-receiver type (think Christian McCaffrey).

So not only are the Giants and Barkley not on the same page regarding his value, they differ in opinion on what kind of player he is, a difference of opinion that could ensure this gap between the two sides continues.

All this is why Robinson's signing doesn't mean he's strictly a training camp body. The Giants seem to be gravitating to more of a committee approach in the running game, meaning the former Jaguar will get every chance to compete for a roster spot, just as he would with any other team.

Answering the Most Frequently Asked Question

Can the Giants rescind the tag, thereby making Barkley an unrestricted free agent, so they can continue negotiating with him?

Technically, the current CBA doesn't specifically say that teams are prohibited from rescinding the tag with the intent of signing the player to a multiyear deal.

However, there is language in the CBA (Article 10, Section 2k) that states, “After July 15 (July 17 in this case, given July 15 fell on a Saturday), the player may sign only a one-year Player Contract with his Prior Club for that season, and such Player Contract may not be extended until after the Club’s last regular season game of that League Year.”

So the answer to this burning question is no, the Giants can't rescind the tag, make Barley a free agent, and resume negotiations with him. If they rescind the tag, Barkley can negotiate with the other 31 teams. Because we're well past the cutoff date for the comp pick calculations (that occurred the first Tuesday in May after the draft), the Giants wouldn't even get compensatory picks were Bakrley to sign with another team.

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