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ESPN analyst and former NFL player Ryan Clark didn’t like how NFL player turned radio show host Tiki Barber said Saquon Barkley is “dead” to him after leaving the New York Giants and signing with the Philadelphia Eagles earlier this week.
So now Clark and Barber are beefing about it on their shows.
In case you missed it, Barber went on his WFAN radio show and said said Barkley was “dead to us.” He didn’t seem terribly serious about it, but it was enough to ruffle the feathers of Saquon.
“@TikiBarber you been a hater since I got to New York,” Saquon Barkley wrote on X later that day, “and all the ‘Dead to me’ talk don’t smile in my face when you see me.”
It also apparently upset Clark, who played his first two years in the NFL on the New York Giants alongside Tiki Barber.
“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 The Pivot 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.”
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
Clark would, much like Saquon Barkley, eventually leave the Giants for a division rival, the then Washington Redskins. (That’s Clark trying to tackle Barber in the photo above.)
After hearing Ryan Clark’s comments on Thursday, Tiki Barber fired right back.
“Wow, Ryan Clark. You are making ‘blank’ up,” Barber said on his radio show. “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.”
But wait, there’s more. Lots more.
“He’s making a story that fits his agenda,” Barber continued. “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.”
Oh, by the way, Tiki Barber also added that Ryan Clark is … wait for it … “dead” to him.