Tag: tiki barber

Brian Baldinger warns New York Giants against drafting J.J. McCarthy

If the New York Giants do not trade up into the top three picks of the 2024 NFL draft, they’ll likely miss out on Caleb Williams, Drake Maye, and Jayden Daniels.

In the minds of many, that’s perfectly fine because Michigan’s J.J. McCarthy will still be available for the taking at some point from No. 4 through No. 6.

However, former NFL offensive lineman and current analyst, Brian Baldinger, does not subscribe to that theory. In fact, he warns, the Giants should stay away from McCarthy entirely.

“I would not go after J.J. McCarthy. He might become a great pro. He’s just a very difficult guy to evaluate because of where he comes from,” Baldinger told the New York Post. “He’s the only quarterback I can remember in recent history where nobody says anything negative about him. They just say, ‘He’s 27-1, Jim Harbaugh says he’s the best quarterback in the draft.’

“Nobody says anything about the offense he played in, not throw the ball in the second half against Penn State, they don’t bring any of that up. They’re just like, ‘Yep, he was a five-star recruit in high school, he took Michigan to a national championship, back-to-back playoff seasons.’ Like he’s the Golden Child. Nobody ever says anything bad about him. And I can’t figure out what there is to evaluate with him. They asked very little of him to go win a national championship.”

If both McCarthy and wide receiver Rome Odunze are available at six, Baldinger believes the Giants should go with Odzune. They most certainly should not trade up for McCarthy, he adds.

“I like him, I don’t know that I love him. I can’t see how many off-platform throws he makes, or how creative he is when, I don’t know, Aidan Hutchinson’s ready to swallow him up,” Baldinger said. “You just don’t see that many situations that NFL quarterbacks have to react to in real time, whether to make the throw as you get blasted, or to get out of harm’s way like (Patrick) Mahomes does weekly a couple of times every game. Or Josh Allen just uncorks a bomb to go win a game.

“You just don’t see those type of throws from him. If I was Joe Schoen, I wouldn’t trade up, lose assets that they desperately need, that might become a franchise quarterback, but you’re very uncertain if he will.”

Baldinger isn’t alone in his skepticism of McCarthy. Former Giants great Tiki Barber expressed similar concerns this week.

“Stop with the J.J. McCarthy thing,” Barber said. “His film doesn’t say he’s a first-round quarterback. His film doesn’t say ‘I need to get rid of all my assets and draft this guy’ because a lot of what he does doesn’t translate.”

We’ll soon find out if general manager Joe Schoen shares similar beliefs.



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New York Giants great Tiki Barber fires back at ex-teammate Ryan Clark

In the continuing war of words between New York Giants legend Tiki Barber and former NFL defensive back Ryan Clark — who are now both veteran media voices — Barber has answered the recent criticism laid on him by Clark over the departure of Saquon Barkley.

Barber, in tongue-in-cheek fashion, said Barkley was dead to him after signing a free agent deal with the rival Philadelphia Eagles.

Clark, in a congratulatory social media post to Barkley, ripped Barber as a bad teammate during the two seasons he spent with him as a Giant in the early 2000s.

Barber thinks Clark is making himself “sound like a fool.”

“Wow, Ryan Clark. You are making blank up,” Tiki said on his WFAN radio show last week. “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, that 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 (expletive) to ingratiate himself with Saquon. His comments make no sense because he’s not talking about someone he knows well enough to talk about.

“I honestly don’t remember interacting with him as a player. . . I thought he was a decent player, went on and had an okay career, won a Super Bowl, I give him kudos. But now that he’s the big wig at ESPN, he thinks he can just take shots, and his word is gospel? That Michael Strahan and Shaun O’Hara aren’t still my friends? What are you talking about?”

Barber wasn’t the only WFAN host to rebut Clark last week. Morning show host Gregg Gianotti blasted Clark, calling him classless and a “D-Bag.”



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Tiki Barber goes off on Saquon Barkley potentially joining Eagles

New York Giants running back Saquon Barkley will be an unrestricted free agent come next Wednesday unless he and the team can agree to a new, long-term deal.

If a deal is not struck, Barkley will be eligible to sign with any team he chooses. Former Giant great Tiki Barber — now a top sports radio host at WFAN in New York — is urging Barkley to not sign with one of the Giants’ most hated rivals, the Philadelphia Eagles.

Barber advised Barkley not to cross that “thick green line.”

“I still want him here,” Barber told his co-host, Evan Roberts, on Thursday.

“The last thing I want him to do is go anywhere else. But if he goes to Philadelphia, I’m not even saying his name. I might not say his name again.”

Barber said that he would address Barkley by his middle name (Rasul) if he signed with Philadelphia and also had the same warning about signing with the Dallas Cowboys.

Both the Eagles and Cowboys are expected to make offers to the top running backs in this year’s free agent class. Dallas appears to be moving off Tony Pollard and the Eagles are not expected to re-sign D’Andre Swift. Both players will also be free agents next week.

Meanwhile, the Eagles and Barkley reportedly have a “mutual interest.”



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Giants must sign Saquon Barkley to long-term deal

The New York Giants and star running back Saquon Barkley are at a crossroads again this offseason. The window to apply the franchise tag to players headed for free agency opened this week now the dance begins.

Barkley is angling for a multi-year deal with guarantees that will make him a Giant for the foreseeable future. The Giants are wrestling with the idea of paying a running back huge money in a league in which the position has been getting devalued with each passing season.

Last year, the Giants slapped the tag on Barkley and eventually came to terms on a modified one-year deal. This year, the tag price will be approximately $12.1 million and Barkley will again refuse to sign the tender which will send both camps back to the negotiating table.

WFAN hosts Evan Roberts and Tiki Barber both chimed in on how they believe the Giants should handle the situation this time around.

“The New York Giants have to keep Saquon Barkley,” Evan said. “But let me start off with the number one thing that kept jumping into my head. Oct. 31, 2023 that was the NFL trade deadline. Let me ask you this, if they couldn’t trade Saquon Barkley on Oct. 30 and October 31, why months later?

“Would it be OK to way let him walk away for nothing? That seems like a complete, utter contradiction. So, in my opinion, the Giants made their decision on October 30. They didn’t trade Saquon, they wouldn’t even listen on trade offers. So what possibly could have changed?”

Barber, a former All-Pro running back who is the team’s all-time leading rusher, believes the Giants have to look behind the numbers at the intrinsic value Barkley brings to the franchise and its fan base.

“Saquon Barkley is not fully necessary, but my emotion to Saquon is something that I think a lot of Giant fans feel and it’s, I love this kid,” Tiki said. “I loved him when he came in.

“He is the perfect example of a star player that you would want on this team. So emotionally, you want to hold on to that guy because he’s an example of guys who are the favorite player on the team, finishing their careers as a Giant or whatever team it is. . . I feel like he should be that guy.”

Both sentiments are valid. The Giants have to weigh their options here as they have very little salary cap room to fit all of their key personnel under one roof.

The Giants have until March 5 to place the franchise tag on Barkley. Free agency begins on March 13.

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Giants great Tiki Barber not a fan of NFL’s playoff overtime rules

Super Bowl LVIII between the San Francisco 49ers and Kansas City Chiefs went into overtime, testing the new rule approved by the league last March.

Under the old rules, overtime periods were set at 10 minutes in length. If the team that possesses the ball first in overtime scores a touchdown on that drive, they win the game. The other offense never gets a chance to even take the field to answer.

On the other hand, if that first team kicks a field goal, the other team will get a possession to answer to win it with a touchdown or tie it with a field goal. At that point, the game becomes a ‘sudden death’ scenario with the next team to score points winning that game.

The new playoff overtime rules set the periods at 15 minutes instead of the 10-minute overtime period in the regular season. If the team that possesses the ball first does not score a touchdown, or if the score is tied after each team has had a possession, then sudden death sets in, and the next score wins the game.

Former New York Giants great Tiki Barber believes the overtime rules in the postseason are nonsense, claiming they make the clock irrelevant.

“The new NFL overtime rule in the playoffs is nonsense. It’s absolute nonsense. To make a clock mean nothing is nonsense,” Barber said Monday on WFAN. “The clock has to end the game. I understand why they do it this way because you want to be fair. But it takes all urgency out of football.

“I hate that. Football, in my mind, is competing against an opponent. But it’s also competing against these forces that constrain you. It’s the field, it’s the officials, and it’s the clock. And overtime in the NFL playoffs, they have neutered the clock, and it makes no sense to me.”

I understand his point, but keep in mind, it’s the postseason. The game needs to produce a winner. In the old days (think the 1956 NFL Championship between the Giants and Baltimore Colts) it was a true sudden-death affair — first team to score wins.

The clock ticked but it clearly was irrelevant when it came to urgency as Tiki was intimating. Isn’t that basically still the case? The only difference between 1958 and today is that both teams get a shot as the clock ticks in the background, albeit pointlessly.



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Giants’ Tommy DeVito, Tiki Barber appear in Pizza Hut commercial

The New York Giants didn’t play in Super Bowl LVIII on Sunday night but shortly before kickoff, they did make their presence felt.

Pizza Hut released a brand new ad campaign to showcase their Hot Honey Pizza and Wings and they chose Giants rookie quarterback Tommy DeVito and actress Antonia Gentry as their “power couple” spokespeople.

Retired Giants great Tiki Barber also got in on the action a bit.

Check it out:

DeVito rose to fame this season after quarterbacks Daniel Jones and Tyrod Taylor suffered multiple injuries. He took over and led the Giants on a three-game winning streak, also taking the country by storm during that time.

Although DeVito’s flame burned hot and fast, it was enough for him to secure several endorsement deals and promotional opportunities. His Italian-inspired celebration also won him the Bug Light Celebration of the Year at the NFL Honors Award Show last week.

DeVito, who is still under contract (non-guaranteed), is expected back with the team in 2024.

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Tiki Barber comes to the defense of Giants head coach Brian Daboll

A man once known for his repeated criticisms of one New York Giants head coach is now coming to the emphatic defense of another.

Retired Giants great, Tiki Barber, has grown tired of the Brian Daboll criticism in recent weeks and shredded the narrative that Daboll is the reason some coordinators, assistants, and staffers are unhappy and reportedly want out in East Rutherford.

“I keep hearing these nonsense takes, ‘It’s an indictment on Brian Daboll that Mike Kafka might not be here,’” Barber said on WFAN this week. “Maybe Mike Kafka just wasn’t good here, and it was more of an indictment on Mike Kafka.

“Same thing with (special teams coordinator Thomas) McGaughey. I’d watch special teams for the Giants and be frustrated that those guys didn’t know what the hell they were doing. Is it on Daboll, or is it on Daboll to hold him accountable, which he did? Is it on Daboll to hold his offensive coordinator accountable? He did, sometimes taking the play calling away from him. That’s what a good head coach does.”

Ultimately, all failures fall at the feet of the general manager and head coach. That’s the nature of the business and all business — you know what rolls downhill.

But it is true — the Giants underwhelmed in all three phases of the game, largely due to injuries and an already lacking roster. They didn’t have the depth to overcome those issues and rushed to compete during a rebuild, which was the Achilles heel for the previous three regimes as well.

Still, those aren’t the issues that have allegedly caused such dissatisfaction within 1925 Giants Drive. Reports from Jay Glazer, Pat Leonard, Jordan Raanan, and others all suggest the problems are the result of disrespectful person-to-person interactions.

Barber still isn’t buying that, however.

“The narrative of, ‘This sounds like trouble for the Giants because Daboll has problems with his coordinators,’ maybe the coordinators sucked in those moments!” Barber said. “You should have a problem with them. I’m serious.”

Maybe. But when everyone at the party gets along except with one guy, is it that lone guy who’s the problem or is it all of the other partygoers?

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New York Giants’ Daniel Jones can be a top-5 QB, says Tiki Barber

New York Giants Ring of Honoree and all-time great, Tiki Barber, rarely lauded Eli Manning as one the best quarterbacks in the NFL.

Barber’s opinion of Manning’s predecessor, Daniel Jones, is quite different, however. He believes Jones could be on his way to become a “top five” player at his position.

In short, Tiki believes Daniel Jones has what it takes to become “elite”.

Speaking on his radio show with Evan Roberts on WFAN in New York, the Giants’ all-time leading rusher was confident in his assessment of Jones, even though Jets fan Roberts openly laughed at the mere notion of Jones being mentioned in the same breath as Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen and others.

Let’s keep in mind that Jones is being tutored by the same minds that tutored Mahomes and Allen.

Giants current head coach, Brian Daboll, is largely credited with Allen’s development, and offensive coordinator Mike Kafka was Mahomes’ position coach in Kansas City.

Barber’s statement isn’t too far off. With an uptick of passing yards and touchdowns, Jones’ status will be elevated, as he has all the other numbers that quarterbacks are rated on.

Fantasy football enthusiasts already know Jones’ value. In 2022, he ranked eighth among quarterbacks and 20th overall on DraftKings with 303.0 fantasy points.

With an upgraded receiving corps. now at his disposal, he can easily crack into the top five this year.



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New York Giants aren’t doing right by Saquon Barkley

Tiki Barber, the New York Giants all-time leading rusher, says the team isn’t doing right by their current star running back, Saquon Barkley.

“He has a lot of choices, and none of them are good for him,” Tiki said on his daily radio program on WFAN in New York.

“Choice No. 1, like Josh Jacobs, sit out. That makes the Giants worse. That sucks for the Giants, it sucks for Saquon Barkley, it’s a bad option, but it’s the only one that he can make a solid point about with the situation. He could sit out training camp, make a statement, but what does that really do? The Giants would be fine because he’s available, and he doesn’t get anything.”

Barkley was assigned the franchise tag in March, which is worth a guaranteed $10.1 million for this season should he sign the tender.

The two-time Pro Bowler has refused to do that in hopes of landing a longer-term deal. But that plan went up in smoke as no such deal was reached at by Monday afternoon’s deadline.

“I think he’s contemplating what he should do and what would be most impactful,” continued Barber. “He has one choice that’s meaningful, and that is to report on time, be the best teammate you can be, crush it, help the Giants go to the postseason, maybe push into the playoffs, and prove it, but not get paid by the Giants.

“There is nothing you can do other than show up and ball.”

Barkley will not be fined for sitting out training camp and/or the Giants’ three preseason games (which he probably wouldn’t have played in anyway), but will not get paid for any regular season games he sits out of.

Tiki sees this stance by the Giants — which on the surface doesn’t seem fair, but from a 2023 NFL business standpoint is the right move — as the ‘beginning of the end’ for Saquon as a Giant.

The Giants have the option of ‘franchising’ Barkley again next year at an estimated salary of $13 million but many experts are saying that doesn’t seem likely.

“The Giants aren’t doing right by him now. Why would they do right by him a year from now when he’s a year older? The Giants aren’t going to pay him,” Barber said.

A healthy, dominant season could change that. Maybe.

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New York Giants great Tiki Barber will announce CBS games in 2023

Retired New York Giants running back Tiki Barber may no longer appear on the field, but he has remained an active part of the NFL. He’s currently the midday co-host on WFAN alongside Brandon Tierney and announced a few games for CBS over the last few seasons.

Earlier this month, it was revealed that Barber would join Evan Roberts during the afternoon drive on WFAN, replacing the departing Craig Carton.

Barber is charismatic and well-liked, he’s personable and relatable. Plus, he knows a thing or two about football.

On Monday, it was announced that Barber will join CBS for a full slate of NFL games this season.

It remains unclear who his co-host will be at this time, but he has called games with Beth Mowins and Tom McCarthy in the past.

During his 10 seasons with the Giants, Barber amassed 10,449 yards on 2,217 carries, an average of 4.7 yards per carry, and recorded 55 touchdowns. While eligible for the NFL Hall of Fame, Barber has not yet been inducted.



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