Franchised players in the NFL must reach contract extensions with their teams before Monday, or they have to choose between the one-year tag and sitting out the entire season without getting paid.

Three tagged running star backs, Saquon Barkley of the New York Giants, Josh Jacobs of the Las Vegas Raiders and Tony Pollard of the Dallas Cowboys, became the only three players to find themselves in such a dilemma this year. The franchise tender is worth $10.091 million for their position. Pollard has signed it. Barkley and Jacobs haven't done it and have shown no intention to do it.

According to ESPN, neither Barkley nor Jacobs will report to their teams' training camps, which will begin on July 25. They cannot get fined for that, but they will lose their salaries if they skip regular-season games or forfeit game checks.

The extension negotiation between Barkley and the Giants began in November 2022 and never went well. He rejected the initial offer without any hesitation. The second offer averaged $14 million per year, but Barkley was not satisfied with the guaranteed money or the structure of the deal. After the team signed an extension with their quarterback Daniel Jones, they soon tagged Barkley, which was always one of the options, according to their general manager Joe Schoen.

"Me getting tagged, was I upset about it? Nobody wants to get tagged," Barkley told reporters in June. "To sit here and say I was frustrated, I was mad, I was upset, what really got me upset was the stories that got leaked out, how misleading they were and how untruthful they were. I feel it was trying to paint a narrative of me, a picture of me, that is not even true. Not even close to being the truth."

Having started in all of his 16 appearances for the Giants last season, Barkley posted a career-high 1,312 yards, the fourth-best in the league, in addition to 10 touchdowns. He was voted to the Pro Bowl for the second time in his career.

Jacobs rejected the deal offered by the Raiders because he wanted a better salary, according to ESPN. He started in every of the team's 17 games last season and led the NFL in rushing yards (1,653) and yards from scrimmage (2,053). He also scored a career-high-tying 12 touchdowns, including running for the 86-yard walk-off touchdown against the Seattle Hawks. It was the longest run in league history.

There is precedent for Barkley and Jacobs to study if they decide to skip the whole 2023 season. Le'Veon Bell did it with the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2018. He then became a free agent and signed a four-year, $52.5 million contract with the New York Jets, including $35 million in guaranteed money. Nonetheless, he performed poorly in the following two seasons before being released in October 2020. His career has never returned to the right track since then.