Saquon Barkley’s recemt quarrel with Tiki Barber inspired ESPN analyst Ryan Clark to enter the chat, and it spawned an entirely new feud.
After Barkley signed with the Philadelphia Eagles this week, subsequently ending his six year tenure with the New York Giants, Barber went on his WFAN radio show and told the running back “You’re dead to us,” albeit with a chuckle. Barkley, however, didn’t find the comment funny and fired back on Twitter by questioning Barber’s loyalty to the Giants. Barber played his entire NFL career with the Giants and remains the franchise’s all-time rushing leader.
After watching the two former Giant running backs exchange barbs from afar, Ryan Clark went on his The Pivot podcast and accused Barber of being a bad locker room presence. Clark spent his first two years in the NFL with the Giants as a defensive back.
Congrats to the family @saquon. Excited he’s now been given what he earned. It’s unfortunate that on a day he & his family were celebrating his new deal he was forced to address Tiki Barber’s “dead to me” foolishness.
Tiki was one of the veterans along with Michael Strahan when… pic.twitter.com/jVitySXhjz
— Ryan Clark (@Realrclark25) March 14, 2024
“Tiki was one of the veterans along with Michael Strahan when I played for the Giants, he taught me everything I refused to be as a veteran,” Clark said on his podcast. “Tiki was a very good player, but definitely not ‘just one of the guys’ everybody could rock with. I guess some things never change.”
Barber responded to Clark Thursday afternoon on his WFAN radio show with co-host Evan Roberts, telling the ESPN analyst to “shut the hell up.”
Tiki responds to Ryan Clark’s recent comments:
“You don’t know me like that” pic.twitter.com/Ty1fY0Q67q
— WFAN Sports Radio (@WFAN660) March 14, 2024
“Wow, Ryan Clark. You are making ‘blank’ up,” Barber said. “Because you don’t know me like that, dude. I didn’t even realize how long you were on the Giants. Your first year, you were a practice squad player, and you were on the defensive side of the ball. What is he talking about? I didn’t embrace young players?
“Ask Brandon Jacobs if I embraced him. Ask Derrick Ward if I embraced him. Ask David Diehl, or Richie Seubert, or any of those guys on my side of the ball if I embraced them. What the hell is he talking about? It’s like he’s fitting a narrative. He’s acting like I’m still a player when it pertains to my comments on Saquon Barkley, and he’s kissing Saquon’s a** to ingratiate himself with Saquon. His comments make no sense, because he’s not talking about somebody that he knows well enough to talk about.”
Barber proceeded to note that he has no recollection of interacting with Clark, a defensive player who spent half his time on the practice squad, when they were teammates in New York.
“It’s an opportunistic shot that he’s taking because he thinks that he’s gonna gain an advantage by being a jacka** to me. Congratulations, Ryan. Good luck in your career as well,” Barber continued. “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.”
“It’s almost embarrassing that he believes he can comment with my relationship with the team that I played on. It’s ignorant,” Barber ranted of Clark. “I hope the rest of his podcast is just outstanding because he piggybacked on a week of national news that we unintentionally produced and he’s getting people to download his podcast. You’re welcome, Ryan Clark. You’re welcome. Enjoy your five minutes of fame.”
And just to bring everything full circle, Barber confirmed that Ryan Clark will now experience the same fate as Saquon Barkley.
“The problem is I like Ryan Clark as an analyst,” Barber admitted. “But now, he’s dead to me.”
[WFAN]
