John Mara says Giants are ‘not in any hurry’ to pay Saquon Barkley

NEW YORK — Giants co-owner John Mara said Wednesday that the Giants are “not in any hurry” to give running back Saquon Barkley a contract extension, two weeks after the team spent $98 million in guaranteed money on free agents.

Mara qualified that “we’re hoping [Barkley is] gonna be a Giant for life” and said discussions will start “at the appropriate time.” But his direct dismissal of an imminent Barkley deal was noteworthy.

“I certainly think we’re not in any hurry to do that,” Mara, 66, said in a virtual press conference. “We fully expect him to be as good as new. If anybody is gonna spend 100 percent of his efforts to rehab it’ll be Saquon, just knowing what type of motivation and desire he has. But we’re not in any hurry to do that at this point, particularly after the money we just spent.”

Barkley, 24, is entering his fourth NFL season and rehabbing from a torn ACL and partially torn meniscus in his right knee. It is not known whether he intends to play in 2021 without a new deal.

Mara said later that he’s aware it can send a bad message when a team fails to reward its own, as the Giants did with departed free agents Landon Collins and Dalvin Tomlinson. And he conceded “we do have some important players that will be coming up for extensions pretty soon.”

But Mara qualified: “You can’t pay everybody.” Barkley’s contract situation, therefore, will be fascinating to watch as the running back gets healthier approaching the fall.

Time to start winning

Mara said he is “tired of the losing,” and that is behind the Giants’ unexpected free agency splurge.

“It’s time for us to start winning some more, and that’s one of the reasons we spent the money that we did,” he said.

The Giants had been preaching patience as an organization coming out of their 6-10 season in 2020, finally committed to a long-term rebuild. But their big spending suddenly has accelerated expectations and increased pressure to win immediately in 2021 in Joe Judge’s second year.

Mara said of any playoff expectations: “I go into every season expecting to make the playoffs. Unfortunately I’ve been wrong the last [four] years. But I always expect us to make the playoffs and expect us to be in contention at some point.”

He admitted that spending so much money “wasn’t necessarily the plan coming in.”

“I can’t say we came in expecting to spend $100 million or whatever the final figure was,” he said.

Mara also granted that “we’re certainly not a finished product by any stretch of the imagination.”

But he believes wide receiver Kenny Golladay, 27, and corner Adoree Jackson, 25, are young players that can thrive in New York for a long time. And clearly, most importantly, Mara wanted his team to be better now.

“I think you can’t [spend like] that every year, but when the opportunity presents itself, I think you have to seize it,” Mara said. “And I think that’s what we did this year. And we think it’ll pay off, but time will tell.”

Tisch involved

Co-owner Steve Tisch participated in this week’s NFL owners meetings and weighed in on the Giants’ free agency decisions, Mara said.

Tisch, 72, understandably has faded out of public view since his daughter Hilary’s tragic death at age 36 last August. He owns 50% of the Giants, though, so it is relevant how involved or removed Tisch has been with the Giants’ recent franchise-changing moves.

“He’s been involved in the owners’ meetings, and I’ve had a number of conversations with him as have other people in the building,” Mara said. “So he’s been fully aware of what’s going on, has given his opinion, and he has continued to be involved, yes.”

Jones’ task: win more games

Mara said he wants Daniel Jones to “take the next step” in year three.” So what does he need to see specifically?

“I don’t have any specific benchmarks other than, ya know, let’s win some more games,” Mara said.

So the edict is simple: win more games.

Jones has won just eight of his 26 NFL starts, including a 5-9 mark last season.

Mara reiterated that “we think the world of Daniel in this building” and said “I think he does have what it takes to be a long-term winner in this league.” But he has to prove it.

What about Gettleman?

Mara was asked directly if Dave Gettleman would be his GM in 2022 if the team didn’t produce more this season. His answer?

“Well, I’m not gonna speculate on that right now,” he said. “Let’s just see how the season plays out. I have more confidence going into this season than I have in previous years, so hopefully given the money we’ve spent, given the draft we expect to have, we’ll have a better team on the field this year.”