Being a front office executive in the NFL is a daunting task and it's always great to get some insight into what goes into the job from a day-to-day standpoint.
On Tuesday with the debut of the new Hard Knocks: Offseason with the New York Giants, fans finally got to see what goes through the minds of front office executives leading up to the start of the free agency frenzy.
Tuesday's episode mainly explored the eventual divorce between the Giants and star running back Saquon Barkley, detailing all the conversations that took place in-house before the decision to part ways was made.
Once the Giants made the decision to find a new running back for the offense, the episode then revealed how close the Giants were to going after the Chicago Bears top free agent signing.
That signing was of course running back D'Andre Swift, whom the Bears quickly scooped up off the market as soon as the free agency period began. To lure Swift to Chicago, the Bears offered him a handsome 3 year, $24 million contract, something the Giants simply weren't able to do.
During the episode, those inside the Giants building noted that the price point for Swift would be a big deal and said that he would have to be a package player inside of a committee backfield instead of the feature back. The Bears obviously viewed Swift differently and were comfortable giving him one of the top contracts at the position.
Another concern the Giants had about going after Swift was whether or not he would re-sign with the Philadelphia Eagles following his one-year deal. In hindsight, the Giants were the ones who helped Swift walk out the door. After losing Swift, the Eagles then turned their attention to Barkley after the Giants allowed him hit the free agent market.
As for the Giants, they ended up signing former Houston Texans running back Devin Singletary and drafted Eric Gray to lead their backfield. Everything seemed to work out perfectly for the Bears by landing the guy whom the team has big plans for in 2024.
"D'Andre's looked really good during this offseason," Bears head coach Matt Eberflus said during the offseason program. "Obviously, as you guys know, he's really quick, he's a weapon out of the backfield, which is outstanding for our passing game and it's going to create some mismatches for us. He can do a lot of things from the backfield, we can split him out wide and run the full route tree, so he's exciting to watch."
If the Giants viewed Swift just a little bit differently and were prepared to offer him a similar contract or chose to keep Barkley, who knows how that could have affected Bears and the rest of the running back market during the free agency frenzy. But, hindsight is 2020 and the Bears were able to land their guy after all.
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