Barkley bites back at Barber
Saquon Barkey didn’t take Tiki Barber’s jabs at him lying down.
The WFAN afternoon host tore into the now-Eagles running back for the decision to sign with rival Philadelphia, saying that the former second overall pick was, “Dead to us now. You’re dead to us, Saquon.”
The over-the-top comments quickly spread on social media and made their way back to Barkley, who, after agreeing to a three-year deal with Philadelphia worth up to $37.75 million with $26 million guaranteed, had no problem tagging Barber in a fiery response of his own.
“@TikiBarber lol yup you’re the prime example of loyalty to a team,” Barkley shot back on social media. “I got the deal I wanted, secured more gm which wasn’t given to me before… so if fans are gonna hate me for that so be it! But I never turned my back on my teammates and always had theirs.”
Barkley wasn’t done there either.
“@TikiBarber you been a hater since I got to New
York … and all the ‘Dead to me’”’ talk don’t smile in my face when you see me,” Barkley wrote.
Barber has not been one to shy away from voicing his unfiltered opinion and
Barkley clearly didn’t take too kindly to the implications in the former athlete turned sports talk host’s words. Barber seemed to walk back some of what he said later in the show, in particular saying his “dead to me” comment was “basically tongue in cheek.”
Barkley’s quip about Barber’s “loyalty to a team” appeared to be a shot at Barber’s decision to retire after the 2006 season in the midst of his prime due to dissatisfaction with head coach Tom Coughlin and other aspects of the organization.
The Giants went on to win the Super Bowl the year after Barber retired.
“Cause I got tired of getting beat up and I left the game and they, by the way, won a Super Bowl after that. What are you talking about?” Barber said in a clip posted by WFAN on X, formerly Twitter, in response to Barkley. “I’ve been retired for 17 years, 18 years. I am now in the media. The fact that my emotional reaction responding to you going to the Philadelphia Eagles, which is by the way the voice of a lot of Giants fans.
“I’d say the majority of Giants fans. And you’re going to come back and talk about something from 17 years ago that you don’t even understand, or are misrepresenting. Fine, be that way, then.”