Giants handled Saquon Barkley Super Bowl embarrassment the only way they could

The Philadelphia Eagles are at the top of the NFL world. On Sunday, the Eagles defeated the Kansas City Chiefs 40-22 to win Super Bowl LIX and hoist the Lombardi Trophy for the second time in franchise history. Every button pushed by general manager Howie Roseman was the correct one last offseason, with perhaps his biggest move being signing Saquon Barkley away from the New York Giants.

The Giants have been the punching bags of the NFL this season due to allowing Barkley to leave in free agency. While of course Barkley put up record-breaking numbers behind Philadelphia's offensive line, one of the best the league has seen in a decade, the Giants went in the opposite direction. The team went 3-14 in their 100th season and solidified themselves as one of the worst teams in the league. Pair that with Barkley leading the Eagles to a Super Bowl title, the ridicule hasn't stopped.

On Tuesday, Barkley was a guest on "The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon" alongside quarterback Jalen Hurts and the Eagles' offensive line. Fallon asked Barkley about his departure from New York and the viral clip from HBO's "Hard Knocks," with Giants owner John Mara saying he'd have trouble sleeping if Barkley joined the Eagles. Barkley revealed that he actually received various phone calls and messages from those in the Giants organization and that they were "super happy" for him.

“Yeah, I mean, you know, that clip doesn’t really display my relationship I have with that organization from top to bottom,” Barkley said, h/t ProFootballTalk. “They’re the people that brought me in. After the game, so many guys and people from that organization reached out to me and were super happy. One, for my birthday and see me hold that Lombardi Trophy up because they know the hard work that I put in. That clip is in the past and I’m happy to be an Eagle. I look at it as like Marshall Faulk — one of my favorite running backs — he played for the Colts, but he’s remembered as a Ram. Now I’m just trying to be remembered as an Eagle.”

Saquon Barkley says Giants reached out after Super Bowl win, were 'super happy' for former RB

Upon leaving the Giants, Barkley has said nothing but good things about his former team, and wouldn't really take the bait on throwing shade towards them. Instead, he said he was appreciative of them giving him a chance, but his focus was on playing for the Eagles.

While this will go down as a hellish season for the Giants, there were some bright spots. The 2024 class looks promising. While wide receiver Malik Nabers was in the spotlight after recording 109 receptions for 1,204 yards, Tyrone Tracy may have made a case to be the team's starting running back of the future. The former Purdue wide receiver turned running back ran for 839 yards and five touchdowns on 192 carries, while also catching 38 passes for 284 yards and a touchdown on 53 targets.

Yes, while Tracy had a good season, it was nothing compared to what Barkley did.

Through 16 regular season games, Barkley ran for 2,005 yards and 13 touchdowns on 345 carries. Barkley had the chance to break the regular season rushing record set by Eric Dickerson with 2,105 yards, but head coach Nick Sirianni opted to rest his starters in Week 18 with the team already locking in the No. 2 seed in the NFC. Once the playoffs came around, Barkley ran for a total of 499 yards and five touchdowns on 91 carries through the Eagles' four playoff games. With those numbers, Barkley broke the single-season rushing record (including the playoffs) with 2,504 yards, a record previously set by Terrell Davis in 1998 with 2,476 yards.

While the Eagles celebrate their Super Bowl title, the Giants are planning out their offseason, trying to find a way back into league respectability. But during so, they reached out to their former star to congratulate him on winning that elusive Super Bowl championship.