Eagles deny they spoke directly with Saquon Barkley during tampering period

Saquon Barkley’s decision to jump from the New York Giants to the Philadelphia Eagles has caused even more controversy.

Penn State coach James Franklin, who coached Barkley in college and is excited to see him return to Pennsylvania, mentioned that the star running back had a conversation with Eagles general manager Howie Roseman during the recruiting process. 

“For him now to come back and be able to play within the state, in Philadelphia, he said that was one of the first things that Howie said to him on the phone as part of his sales pitch to him was not only the Philadelphia Eagles and that, but obviously the connection with Penn State and the fan base as well,” Franklin told reporters on Tuesday.

The potential issue is that general managers and other team personnel aren’t allowed to speak directly to free agents during the legal tampering window in the 52 hours ahead of the official start of free agency, which was on Wednesday at 4 p.m. ET. Any contact beforehand is restricted to a player’s agent. 

The Eagles have denied that they spoke directly to Barkley too early. The NFL declined to comment on the matter while the Giants have yet to reach out to the league about it, ESPN reported.

Barkley’s decision to agree to a three-year, $37.75 million deal ($26 million guaranteed) with the Eagles has been met with some backlash in New York. Former Giants running back Tiki Barber was chief among the critics, saying on his radio show that Barkley is “dead to us.”

Barber later told ESPN that he was joking when he made the comment, but Barkley didn’t perceive it that way on social media. The new Eagles running back wrote in a pair of social media posts that he received more guaranteed money than the Giants had offered him, writing that “if fans are gonna hate me for that so be it! But I never turned my back on my teammates and always had theirs.”

“@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…

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Publish date : 2024-03-14 14:11:53

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