Tiki Barber is the most accomplished running back in the history of the New York Giants. There’s no debating that. His credentials and stats put him far ahead of any other running back to ever wear the blue and also rivals some of the best to ever play the game.
But it wasn’t always that way for Barber. He endured a few tough seasons before Tom Coughlin took over the Giants in 2004. Under Couglin, Barber solved his ball security issues and for three seasons was one of the top running backs in the NFL before hanging up his cleats after the 2006 season.
Barber is under no illusions that his franchise records for rushing and total yards from scrimmage are safe. Current Giants star running back Saquon Barkley is poised to break them all and that would be fine for Barber because he feels the Giants will go as Barkley goes.
Appearing on the Scoop B. Radio Podcast, Barber was asked what Barkley’s ceiling could be.
“Right now, he’s living it,” Tiki said. “But it’s interesting because he gets compared to at least successful things I did in my career.
“If he stays with the Giants, my records have no chance. He’s going to run through them. But it’s interesting… It took me about four years to figure it out. In 2000 or so, I started to figure it out, 2001 how to be consistent, how to stay healthy and how to be a reliable contributor. Saquon had that from Day 1. And if you start and if you get it [the proverbial ‘get it’] from Day 1 and he had great success — he was Rookie of the Year. I can’t remember if he led the league in rushing, but he was right up there.”
Barkley broke into the NFL in 2018 with a Pro Bowl season in which he led the NFL in total yards from scrimmage (2,028 with 1.307 of those yards on the ground) and racked up a total of 15 touchdowns.
Barber holds the Giants franchise records for total yards from scrimmage (15,632) in a career along with rushing yards (10,449) and most rushing yards in a single season (1,860 in 2005).
Tiki eclipsed the 2,000-plus yards from scrimmage mark three times in his career (2004-2006). Barkley did not get to 2,000 last year (1,4410), but he missed three games with a high ankle sprain which bothered him for a good stretch of the season.
So, what’s next for Barkley? Winning, says Barber.
“So, after one year, Rookie of the Year. Second year, he had a little bit of a setback, maybe because of that high ankle sprain that kept him off the field for a couple weeks. He played, but he battled it and he finally started to get right at the end.
“But now going into Year 3, it’s like, we need to win. I mean, we got this from this side of our team — we got pieces on the defensive side of the team, we have a quarterback that we all believe in and we got a coach in Joe Judge that is no-nonsense and tells it like it is… we gotta start winning.
“And so if I’m Saquon, in my mind I’m saying, ‘what are we winning?’ It’s not like we have build another year. . . And it’s on him because when you think about it, who are the leaders there? It’s him. They’re a young team, the New York Giants and Nate Solder’s 30 years old, but he’s a tackle. Saquon’s got to be that leader and Daniel Jones has to follow and hopefully it leads to wins.”
That is what the Giant fans are hoping for as well.
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