Eagles’ Saquon Barkley says he didn’t know ‘Hard Knocks’ conversation with Giants GM was recorded

Saquon Barkley admitted he didn’t know the conversation he had with Joe Schoen that allowed him to become a free agent was going to be on “Hard Knocks.” The phone call with the New York Giants general manager and Barkley ended up making the cut for the first front office edition of “Hard Knocks,” which Barkley found out watching a trailer of the episode. 

“I also think they have control of the edits and they could have painted me to look really bad,” Barkley said after Eagles training camp practice Wednesday, via the team’s YouTube page. “They kind of gave the truth.”

Barkley seemed noncommittal about the “Hard Knocks’ storyline, admitting he only watched one episode — which was Episode 3 that aired last week. The Giants front office debated on whether it was in a position to retain Barkley or move on from the former No. 2 overall pick. At the end of the day, the chose the latter, showing the process of how they moved on. 

When the Giants made the call to let Barkley test the free agent market, the conversation with Schoen aired on “Hard Knocks.” The clip is arguably the highlight of the series thus far. 

“It was unique. It was different,” Barkley said on “Hard Knocks.” “I lived it, I got to watch it, and now I’m ready to focus on what matters most — and that’s being here with my teammates and getting better each day.”

The decision to move on from Barkley was simple for the Giants, who just didn’t want to pay a running back $12.5 million a year. They chose to allocate their money elsewhere. 

Barkley was fine with that. He moved down Interstate 95 to Philadelphia, and he’s happy with the Eagles. 

“In my life, in my world — it wasn’t that deep,” Barkley said. “It wasn’t as intense has it was. ‘Hard Knocks’ did a really good job. They put out there what happened. It wasn’t really much. 

“At that point, it is what it is and let’s just move on.”