Saquon Barkley was a New York Giant for the first four years of his career, but a new documentary has revealed that he asked to be traded away from the team in 2023
09:58 ET, 10 Oct 2025
Saquon Barkley
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Saquon Barkley had a trade request rejected by New York Giants owner John Mara a few months before joining the Philadelphia Eagles
Saquon Barkley has previously expressed his desire to remain a New York Giant for his entire career, but recent revelations suggest that might not have been the whole truth.
Before being somewhat pushed out of the team and joining their rival Philadelphia Eagles, Barkley — who has cleared up his relationship with Giants general manager Joe Schoen — reiterated in 2024 that he wanted to stay with the Giants, with his contract set to expire that season.
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However, it turns out that Barkley had actually requested to leave the team a year earlier - asking to be traded away from the Giants before the 2023 season, as revealed in a new documentary. The documentary titled 'Saquon', produced by legendary filmmaker Martin Scorsese, was recently released on Amazon Prime.
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Before the '23 season, the Giants offered Barkley an extension to stay with the team long-term. However, no deal was reached, and the running back played out his rookie contract. Meanwhile, Jaxson Dart's interaction with an NFL official goes viral after a touchdown call is overturned in New York's win over the Eagles.
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The documentary captured his live reaction to the offer he turned down.
He addressed Giants owner John Mara, saying, "I want to run something by you real quick. I've just seen the offer. I just talked it over with my agent. Once again, I appreciate that.
"But I brought this up to [general manager] Joe [Schoen] a couple times and he kind of declined me. He said ownership won't allow it.
"It's obviously clear I don't think we're going to get to a place where we can agree on a deal. So would you allow for me permission to seek a trade?"
Barkley
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Barkley won the Super Bowl in his first year with the Eagles
The owner retorted, "Nah, Saquon, I'm not going to do that. That makes no sense for us and, to be honest with you, it's not going to be in your long-term best interest to do that.
"There is no way that I would allow them to trade you at this point. No. I'm just being honest with you. You're too valuable to this franchise."
Mara seemed adamant about retaining Barkley even before the Giants decided against paying him - essentially letting him walk away as a free agent for nothing.
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In a snippet from HBO's Hard Knocks, Mara is caught saying: "I'd have a tough time sleeping if Saquon goes to Philadelphia, I'll tell you that. He's the most popular player we have by far."
Regrettably for Mara, that's precisely what transpired - with Barkley leading the Eagles to a Super Bowl victory in his debut season with the team.
Barkley is set to face off against the Giants on Thursday Night Football.