Will Saquon Barkley get booed in return to MetLife Stadium? Giants legend says it will be ‘vocal minority’

Saquon Barkley makes his anticipated return to MetLife Stadium on Sunday. Of course, Barkley plays for the Philadelphia Eagles now — the New York Giants bitter rival down Interstate 95. 

The latest chapter of the Eagles-Giants rivalry is a big one because of how good Barkley has been in Philadelphia, and how his relationship ended in New York. 

Will Barkley get booed in his return? NFL on CBS analyst Tiki Barber, one of the greatest players in Giants history, doesn’t think the vitriol toward Barkley will be that bad. 

“I don’t know. I don’t know,” Barber said. “And if it does, it’s probably gonna be a vocal minority. I think a lot of people appreciate what Saquon did as a player for the Giants, but there’s a lot of people that hate to see him in that uniform. 

“And if he gets booed, it’s because they are booing the uniform. They aren’t booing him. He’s a great kid. We all know that. They are booing the uniform he currently wears.”

Losing Barkley to Philadelphia was a tough pill for New York to swallow, especially since Barkley was on his way toward being a franchise legend. Barkley was one of the top running backs in Giants franchise history, ranking fourth all time in rushing yards (5,211) and seventh in yards from scrimmage (7,311). He and Tiki Barber are the only two players in franchise history with 5,000+ rushing yards and 2,000+ receiving yards, and Barkley was the quickest player in Giants history to rush for 5,000 yards (70 games). His 35 100-yard scrimmage games in a Giants uniform trailed only Barber (81). 

“I mean, it’s his prerogative to do it,” Barber said on Barkley going to the Eagles. “But we as Giant fans, we hate that. It’s our bitter rival, because we can never beat them. And they got better with him there. It was insult to injury. 

“He’s now the rival that you see twice a year and not because he’s 31 years old and on the downside of his career. He’s 27 and in his prime. It hurts because you know, he’s gonna kill us every single time he comes back to play us.”

The only advice Barber has for Barkley is to just play his game. He doesn’t need to focus on much else. 

“He’s getting caught up in the rhetoric around it,” Barber said. “He just needs to focus on being great. That’s all that matters. That’s his best revenge.”