The offseason drama involving former New York Giants running backs Saquon Barkley and Tiki Barber got poured with more fuel with Stephen A. Smith sharing his thoughts on it.
The ESPN personality appeared to have come to the defense of Barber, who previously said that Barkley is “dead to him” after the former Penn State Nittany Lions tailback decided to take his talents to the Philadelphia Eagles.
“If there's history there that we may not know about or whatever, then Saquon had every right to respond the way that he did,” Smith said during a recent episode of First Take.
“If it's just based on what we saw, come on man. Come on bro. He wasn't volatile in any way towards Saquon Barkley. Now let me say this to Saquon Barkley right here…this is a guy in Tiki Barber, over the last five seasons in the NFL, he ranked second in the NFL in scrimmage yards to LaDainian Tomlinson while playing all 80 games. Rushing for 10,449 yards, all-time leading rusher for the New York Giants in his career,” Smith continued.
“The man has earned the right to speak on behalf of the New York Giants as an alum. Now, Saquon isn't wrong with what he's saying…but let's not walk around acting like Tiki Barber did something wrong and disrespected him. He did no such thing.”
In any case, Barkley's departure from the Giants and his subsequent decision to remain in the NFC East division by signing with New York's bitter rival will add more flavor to the already spicy rivalry.
Barkley, who agreed to a three-year, $33.75 million contract with the Eagles, played his first six seasons in the NFL with the Giants, racking up 5,211 rushing yards and 35 with New York across 74 games.
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