Stephen A. Smith is siding with Tiki Barber in the WFAN host’s bout with former New York Giants running back Saquon Barkley.
Tuesday morning on First Take, Smith weighed in on the brewing feud between two former New York Giants running backs. And while Smith reserved the right to change his opinion if there’s more to the feud than what’s been made public, the First Take host appears to believe Barkley is making much ado about nothing.
WFAN’s Evan Roberts making his First Take debut with that beard is something pic.twitter.com/Ku56a3Chwe
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) March 12, 2024
“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. “If it’s just based on what we saw, come on, man. Tiki Barber talking tongue-in-cheek, come on, bro. he wasn’t volatile in any way at all toward Saquon Barkley.”
Last week, Barber warned Barkley against signing with the Philadelphia Eagles, claiming it would be “insulting to his Giant history and legacy.” On Monday, Barkley ignored that warning and effectively ended his tenure with the New York Giants by agreeing to a contract with Philly.
Barber responded to Barkley’s $37.75 million contract by saying “He’s dead to us now,” albeit with a chuckle on his WFAN afternoon show with co-host Evan Roberts. Barkley, however, didn’t find the comment funny and fired back on Twitter by questioning Barber’s loyalty to the Giants.
@TikiBarber lol yup you’re the prime example of loyalty to a team.. 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 https://t.co/6aKgJquD0F
— Saquon Barkley (@saquon) March 11, 2024
Smith went on to debunk Barkley’s loyalty concerns by citing Barber’s statistics which were second only to LaDainian Tomlinson in the last five years of his career. “The man has earned the right to speak on behalf of the New York Giants,” Smith said of Barber.
Barber fell out of favor with Giants fans when he questioned Eli Manning’s leadership skills in 2007. But at that point, Barber was already retired from the NFL and attempting to jumpstart his media career. As a player, it’s hard to question Barber’s loyalty to the Giants considering he played his entire career with the franchise and was immensely more durable and productive than Barkley was.
Barkley probably hoped to see Barber champion the fact that he got paid. Instead, Barber said “He’s dead to us” which may have set Barkley off considering he wanted to stay with the Giants. While Barkley took offense to the comment, Smith was willing to chalk Barber’s hot take up to being a sports radio bit and not a personal shot.
“Let’s not walk around acting like Tiki Barber, based off that sound we saw, that Tiki Barber did something wrong and disrespected him,” Smith said. “He did no such thing. You’re just on talk radio and said, ‘We’re done with him.’ That’s all. It was a flippant comment, he was only joking around. Let’s pump the brakes on all of that.”
Smith knows a thing or two about feuding with Barber. Two years ago, Smith issued a bizarre warning to Barber saying, “I know a lot of stuff about you…watch yourself.” The warning came after Barber defended the Giants against allegations of racism by Smith. But two years later, Smith appears to have Barber’s back.
