‘Hard Knocks’ Documents Saquon Barkley’s Final Talks With Giants Before RB’s Departure: ‘We’re Out’

To her credit, Mara didn’t push Schoen to go above and beyond, thus shattering his financial plans to retain Barkley.

Hard knocks Cameras provided a glimpse into how the general manager handled the negotiations, showing calls to Barkley’s agent, Ed Berry, and Mara during the process.

Schoen on the phone with Berry: “Hello? Ed Berry, what’s up, buddy? Well, I’m putting this together, so to get Saquon, what should we do? I mean, again, that was kind of the point, was you go see what it is, and I’m just like, “Yeah, we can’t do that” or “Yeah, we can.” I mean, you talked to him, if he wants to be here, there’s no sense in going back and forth. You say, “Hey, that’s what he wants to be here,” we’ll say, “Yeah, we’ll do it,” or “No, we won’t,” while I’m going over that. So 12.5 (million), you said? Over three years? And then, what did you think the guarantee was? 25 (million) guaranteed. Okay, so if I offered him a three-year deal today for $12.5 million and $25 million guaranteed, he’d be a Giant? Okay, fine, I’ll call you back, it might be above me on Saquon, but if I call you back and it’s three years for $12.5 million and $25 million guaranteed, is that good? We’ll fly him out today, fly you out, have a press conference. All right, thanks, buddy.”

Schoen on the phone with Mara: “Hey John, how’s it going? I talked to the agent, and the deal all along was that he would come back to me with a chance to match it. … I told the agent, I said if we match this contract, he’ll be a Giant. And he said, “Well…” You know, he hesitated, he said, I’m not saying that, we’ve got a lot of work to do if that happens.