The Giants feud among team alums is still going strong.
Days after Saquon Barkley traded barbs with Tiki Barber over the retired pro’s “dead to me” jab in the wake of the 27-year-old running back’s Eagles signing, former Giants safety and current ESPN analyst Ryan Clark addressed the matter on a recent installment of “The Pivot Podcast,” stating Barber “taught me what I didn’t want to be as a veteran.”
“Tiki taught me how you don’t make a young player feel welcome, how you don’t make a young player feel that one day this can be his team,” said Clark, who played for the Giants from 2002 to 2003.
“The way he made me feel as a young rookie and a second-year player, I said I don’t ever want to be that dude.”
In a post on X, Clark added, “Tiki was a very good player, but definitely not ‘just 1 of the guys’ everybody could rock with. I guess some things never change.”
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The soundbite circulated on social media and Barber, who was in his sixth season with the Giants when Clark was a rookie, fired back at his one-time teammate on WFAN.
Ryan Clark speaks about Tiki Barber on “The Pivot Podcast.” The Pivot Podcast/X“Wow, Ryan Clark, you are making blank up cause you don’t know me like that, dude,” Barber said Thursday.
“What is he talking about? I didn’t embrace young players. Ask [former Giants running back] Brandon Jacobs if I embraced him.”
Barber, who spent all 10 years of his NFL career with the Giants before transitioning to broadcasting after the 2006 season, then said of Clark, “Now that he’s the bigwig at ESPN, he thinks he can just take shots and his word is gospel.”
“He’s making a story that fits his agenda and he doesn’t know me well enough to talk about me, so shut the hell up, Ryan Clark, please, you sound like a fool,” the former Giants running back added.
Barber then reiterated that Clark “doesn’t know me like that,” nor is he privy to “my relationships with my former teammates, the organization, but you act like you know.
“… It’s an opportunistic shot that he’s taking because he thinks that he’s going to gain advantage by being a jackass to me,” Barber said. “Congratulations, Ryan, good luck in your career as well.”
Tiki Barber fired back at Ryan Clark on WFAN. WFAN/XIn the wake of Barber’s comments, Jacobs — who played for the Giants from 2005-11 — posted on X: “He definitely embraced me. Wasn’t for @TikiBarber I wouldn’t be who I am.”
Though it remains to be seen if another chapter of the Big Blue spar-fest is coming, Barkley said Thursday during his Eagles introductory press conference that he could have handled his Giants departure differently.
“I don’t think I really handled it the right way on social media. I think I could’ve gave a proper goodbye,” said Barkley, who agreed to a three-year, $37.5 million deal with the Giants’ loathed rival.
Saquon Barkley speaks to the media during his introductory Eagles press conference on March 14, 2024. AP“I’m forever grateful for Giants fans, so thankful for them, but unfortunately, the NFL is a business. I was able to get to a place I know I can come here, I can compete, I can win and I can stay close to home.”
Barkley, the second overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft, spent the first six years of his career with the Giants.
