Jonathan Taylor had a stunned 1-word response right after Saquon Barkley's contract talks failed

On Monday, with the New York Giants roster reporting to training camp over the next week, they failed to reach a contract extension agreement with superstar running back Saquon Barkley. While officially on the franchise tag for the 2023 season, Barkley may now hold out of camp.

It’s an unfortunate development for Barkley, one of the clear-cut best tailbacks in professional football. Even after a season where he clearly carried the Giants’ offense with over 1,600 multipurpose yards and 10 touchdowns, Barkley didn’t get the bag. When you factor in the extremely productive Austin Ekeler’s labor situation with the Los Angeles Chargers and how the Las Vegas Raiders are dealing with last year’s leading rusher Josh Jacobs, it’s evident that top running backs are being valued less than ever.

Barkley’s situation, in particular, seemed to draw the attention of Jonathan Taylor. The NFL’s 2021 leading rusher is entering the last year of his rookie contract with the Indianapolis Colts and figures to enter his own contract talks with the organization soon enough.

And, almost immediately after it was revealed Barkley didn’t get a long-term extension, Taylor shared a stunned one-word reaction on Twitter:

Wow.

— Jonathan Taylor (@JayT23) July 17, 2023

A little over 10 minutes after Barkley and the Giants didn’t meet their extension deadline and Taylor’s first tweet in almost two weeks. That can’t be a coincidence. I can’t confirm it for sure, but it seems to me that the modern running-back reality hit Taylor hard with Barkley’s stalled contract talks.

I’d like to say it’ll go differently for Taylor, but I can’t be remotely confident in such a sentiment after seeing how some teams are treating their offensive bell cows lately.