Tiki Barber doesn’t believe Tom Brady had all the pertinent information in the saga of Daniel Jones’ release from the Giants.
Brady ripped Jones for requesting his release while working as the color commentator during Fox’s telecast of the Cowboys’ 27-20 win over the Giants on Thanksgiving.
Barber reacted to the remarks on WFAN’s afternoon drive program with Evan Roberts on Monday, surmising that Brady had a blind spot to the real story.
Frank Becerra Jr./The Journal News / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
“Do you think he’s having that conversation because he doesn’t do production meetings?” Barber asked.
Because of Brady’s minority stake in the Raiders, he faces a number of restrictions in his broadcasting role with Fox Sports, including not being permitted to participate in the one-on-one meetings with players and coaches where information flows freely to help prepare announcers for the games.
“Because if you’re in a production meeting … if you’d have any kind of conversation with anybody on the Giants, you are not saying that. I honestly don’t think you’re saying it that way,” Barber continued.
In addition to his role with WFAN, Barber is a color commentator for CBS and thus aware of how pregame protocols work with announcers.
Jones was benched by the Giants and put behind Tommy DeVito and Drew Lock on the depth chart last month, subsequently requesting his release and later signing to the Vikings’ practice squad.
On Thanksgiving, Brady said that he would’ve handled the benching situation differently than Jones.
“I don’t know how that whole situation went down but to think that you’d ask for a release from a team that committed a lot to you is maybe different from how I would’ve handled that,” Brady said.
“I always felt I wanted to get the trust and respect of my teammates regardless of the situation, knowing that I was trying to be the best I could for the team because that was the most important thing.”
Barber, a former star Giants running back, said the chatter that it was “disrespectful” to have Jones play safety on the scout team is “nonsense” because it was just a walkthrough.
“It was nothing. So to make it a big deal is disingenuous of people who don’t know what they’re talking about,” Barber said.
“Number 2 — the reason he asked for his release is because they wouldn’t even let him work out. Like going to the gym, lift weights, do anything that was physical — he couldn’t do it! He’s gonna sit around for 5-6 weeks and basically just be a potato and do nothing?”
The reason the Giants would sideline Jones like this is that they would have been on the hook for a $23 million injury guarantee for next season had he gotten hurt.
“If you have a conversation, a production meeting with the Giants, about all the stuff that’s actually going on which most people aren’t privy to, you don’t say what you just said on the air,” Barber said.
Barber reiterated that he didn’t think Brady was “privy” to the real story of Jones’ release.
“That’s just wrong of Tom,” Barber said.