Saquon Barkley headlined the list of running backs who were unable to negotiate a long-term deal ahead of yesterday’s deadline, leaving them to play out the season on the franchise tag. Talks between he and the Giants nearly produced an agreement, Adam La Rose of Pro Football Rumors reports.

The two parties came within roughly $1 to $2MM of reaching an agreement on the matter of both annual compensation and guaranteed money, as detailed by Ryan Dunleavy of the New York Post and corroborated by NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo. The Giants’ final offer made in advance of the deadline was a three-year contract with an AAV of between $11MM and $11.5MM and $22-23MM in guarantees, per Dunleavy.

Barkley and the Giants had engaged in few contract talks in the weeks leading up to yesterday, but they circled back in an effort to come to terms. Given their inability to bridge the relatively small gap which existed – Dunleavy adds that both parties felt they had conceded as much as they could – the 26-year-old is now faced with the proposition of earning $10.1MM on the tag this season or sitting out regular season games and costing himself $560K per week in the process.

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