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Tiki Barber likes what he sees so far from the Giants’ new regime.
The former Giants running back, 46, is tipping his hat to the franchise, which signed quarterback Tyrod Taylor and center Jon Feliciano, among others, to open free agency this week.
“I am loving the calculated way that the Giants are going about this offseason,” Barber told The Post on Wednesday, days before he’s set to compete in the United Airlines NYC Half-Marathon.
“They had a lot of money they had to save on the salary cap, about $40 million. Joe Schoen, our new general manager, needed to shave off so that he could do all he needed in free agency and then ultimately, come the draft at the end of April. And so far, I think it’s all been positive.”
Barber not only thinks Feliciano, 30, is a “good addition to the offensive line,” noting his familiarity with Giants rookie head coach Brian Daboll — his offensive coordinator in Buffalo — but is pleased about the signing of Taylor, 32.
“I love that they brought in Tyrod Taylor as a backup quarterback or someone to push Daniel Jones, and if he should have to start, we know that he can win,” Barber said.
Although the Giants have made a flurry of other moves throughout the week, adding tight end Ricky Seals-Jones and guard Mark Glowinski, a question that doesn’t appear to be going away is the status of running back Saquon Barkley, 25, who is entering Year Five following two-injury plagued seasons and has been at the center of trade rumors.
“The challenge is if he has a great season, say he rushes for 1,500 yards and has 12 touchdowns and he looks like the Saquon that won Rookie of the Year, are we going to pay him?” Barber said. “The reason you would move him now is cause you can get the value for him as it’s still a top-end running back… I think that there’s the opportunity to sign him to a short-term deal that makes him feel like he can be a Giant for life, but he’s got to prove it again this year. I would not trade him, but I can understand why some people would.”
While Barber will likely be keeping tabs on the Giants this weekend, given the new league year officially started Wednesday, he’s zoned in on Sunday’s 13.1-mile half-marathon, which will have 25,000 runners and marks the first New York Road Runners race at full scale since the COVID-19 pandemic began.
Barber, who nearly missed the full New York City marathon in November due to travel troubles, had to work his way back into fighting shape, however, after suffering an injury late last year.
“I had a little bit of a setback at the end of December, cause I started lifting weights again, just to get back into some of the physique that I used to have and I ended up straining my Achilles, and so, I didn’t run for two months, which is the longest stretch of not running for me in about eight years,” Barber said.
The “Tiki & Tierney” host had to ease his way back into exercising before going on long runs again.
“[It] started on the treadmill and eventually got up to about two times a week, and then every Sunday, we would do a long run, eight-to-ten miles,” he said.
For Barber though, he has enjoyed the training process overall, not to mention the tasty rewards at the end of recent runs with friends.
“In the last three weekends, we’ve done ten-milers but we’ve capped them off with beers at one of the guys’ houses and cooking’ out, we had a ham last weekend,” he continued. “It’s actually been a really fun process to get back in shape and gear up for this half-marathon.”
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