Saquon Barkley appeared on the latest episode of the New Heights podcast with Jason and Travis Kelce, and talked about the rift with Tiki Barber after Tiki’s “dead to us” comments following Barkley signing with the hated Eagles.
“You’re an ex NFL player. You’re an ex running back,” Barkley said. “I get fans being upset about me going to Philly. Obviously, they don’t get the business side of it…first of all, the Giants didn’t even offer me.
“But Tiki, you used that moment - it wasn’t even what he said, because it was tongue in cheek or whatever he said - but the week leading up to it when the Eagles had interest, and he was saying ‘you’re gonna be dead to this fanbase.’
“Maybe use that time to show, ‘Maybe this is why Saquon is going to Philly.’”
Tiki responded to those comments to open Wednesday’s show.
“I think most fans are very aware of the lack of loyalty in the NFL,” Tiki said. “We see it every season. Hell, Tom Brady won multiple championships with the patriots, and at the end, Robert Kraft and Bill Belichick didn’t want him.
“I think what Saquon is wanting me to do is be someone I was 10 years ago. I’ve been retired for 17 seasons. I’m so much more a media member now, both covering games and being an opinion generator on this station, than I am an NFL player. It was almost a generation ago.”
Tiki understands that things are different in today’s NFL, but in his playing experience, rivalries were very real, so of course he would anticipate an angry reaction from Giants fans if their running back signed with the Eagles of all teams.
“I get what he’s saying, but I also have to react how Giants fans react, and how I genuinely feel when Saquon Barkley goes to the Eagles,” Tiki said. “Fandom is real. I think that’s what he and other athletes miss.
“When I was playing, we hated the Eagles. I respect Ike Reese and Jeremiah Trotter and Brian Dawkins…but in real time, I hated those dudes. I hated the interactions with fans, they would cuss and yell and everything at me. That’s real. So when he says ‘I am old school,’ I’m just speaking it how I lived it. Maybe it’s different in today’s NFL…that wasn’t the world I lived in.”