Saquon Barkley thrilled to be on Eagles fans' side after bad breakup with Giants

Philadelphia Eagles' new running back Saquon Barkley got brutally honest about his breakup with the New York Giants in a very open conversation with The Athletic's Dianna Russini this week.

During the interview, which dropped on Tuesday as a part of Russini's new podcast, "Scoop City," Barkley admitted he felt disrespect by the way the Giants handled moving on from him after six solid seasons together.

"I kind of felt like it was kind of a little disrespectful, to be honest," he said after the Giants told him to hit the open market. "It's kind of like a slap in the face."

Barkley revealed the Giants had led him to believe they would match any offer that he would come back with, but that wasn't the case.

And that's when Barkley realized it was over between him and New York.

"No matter what, I probably wasn't going to go back," Barkley said. "Like, I know my agent went back and talked to him [Giants GM Joe Schoen] and we gave him the opportunity, like, alright, what we matched. But the whole time I already removed myself from that. Like, I had that conversation, and I was like, damn it's going to suck. It hurt. It was like, I wanted to do this and that's why it hurts. It hurts because I'm the type of player, the type of person, I envision things. I wanted to be a part of New York and the success and be a part of that organization.

"And I'm happy that I was. So, it was like, damn, okay, it's coming to an end. But at the end of the day, I'm not retiring, like my career wasn't over. I still have a lot of ball left. So, it was like, alright, you put that chapter aside and you're thankful for that chapter and then you move on."

Once he hit NFL free agency, Barkley had several other offers from teams, but the Eagles were the ones who won the draw, signing him to a three-year, $37.75 million deal , with $26 million guaranteed.

It's a decision he made that he takes a lot of pride in and a side of the fandom fence that he would much rather be on than playing against.

“You’re like, woah these motherf—ers are insane! On this side you’re like, they bleed this. We lose on Sunday they’re having a bad week," Barkley said about Eagles fans.

"I’m itching. I can’t wait for camp, I can’t wait for the season.”

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