Sheesh. The NFC East rivalry between the Philadelphia Eagles and New York Giants runs deep, so it comes as little surprise that career-long Giants running back Tiki Barber came out firing on Monday once it was reported that Saquon Barkley fled New York in favor of Philly.
What a baller move by Eagles GM Howie Roseman. The man is not afraid to spend big and make a splash. Needless to say, he accomplished that here by poaching Barkley from an arch-nemesis.
Once the Giants refused to give Barkley a long-term contract extension before last season when he played on the franchise tag, the writing was on the wall that his time with the team that drafted him second overall in 2018 was coming to an end. As for the notion that New York should’ve traded Barkley prior to letting him walk to Philly for nothing, Barber beat that back in an emphatic way.
However, he also praised the G-Men for getting right back in the running back market by signing Devin Singletary.
Good for Tiki coming in hot with the takes about Saquon, but I were Saquon, I would lose not a wink of sleep over leaving the Giants. Seems like he won’t. Just a simple thank you, and PEACE.
The Giants are one of the shining examples of NFL dysfunction since their last Super Bowl with Eli Manning under center. They don’t have a viable franchise quarterback in place because they overpaid Daniel Jones. New York didn’t position Barkley or Jones for success thanks to their failure to build a competent offensive line. Head coach Brian Daboll is reportedly a screaming lunatic behind the scenes.
Meanwhile, the Eagles have an excellent o-line in place despite Jason Kelce’s retirement. That’ll easily be the best unit Saquon has ever played behind.
Oh yeah, and he’ll have a QB in Jalen Hurts who just led the Eagles to a Super Bowl berth two seasons ago, with two outstanding wide receivers to complement the Saquon-led rushing attack in AJ Brown and DeVonta Smith. Talk about a massive upgrade in every conceivable way.
Tiki just comes across as a little jaded and jealous with this take. Yes, the rivalry is a real thing, but Saquon did all he could to keep the Giants relevant in recent years. The organization failed him and the fan base. When an opportunity presents itself to, you know, actually compete for a championship after years of losing, who can blame Saquon for taking it? Plus, he attended high school in Pennsylvania and went to college at Penn State. It’s a homecoming of sorts for him.
I’ll be stunned if the Giants aren’t fully rebooting their entire franchise by 2025. They’re just a straight-up mess right now. Losing Saquon is symbolic of that, and I think deep down, Tiki knows it. If I were in his shoes, I too would hate to cover a once-proud team I used to play for amid years of sucktitude.
