Former New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning and running back Saquon Barkley played together for two seasons before Manning's 2019 retirement from the NFL. The two remain close, to the point where Manning has admitted that he'd like to see Barkley win Sunday's Super Bowl (even though he struggles to embrace the rival Eagles as a whole).
Barkley's status as a college superstar and No. 2 pick by the Giants didn't prevent him from being on the receiving end of a classic Manning prank early in his career, however.
In an earlier episode of New Heights, the podcast hosted by Jason and Travis Kelce, Barkley—now with the Philadelphia Eagles—shared the story of a prank in which he had a bunch of grass thrown in his mouth by the veteran quarterback.
On the latest New Heights, ahead of Super Bowl LIX in which Barkley's Eagles and Travis Kelce's Kansas City Chiefs will face off, Manning admitted to the prank, explaining exactly how it went down.
"This is a confirmed story," Manning said. "Every year before the first preseason game ... I'm kind of sitting on the sideline [for] a long time, and I always walk up to a few of the rookies and I'm holding my mouth and I'm going, 'Man, my teeth've been bothering me. I've gotta get my wisdom teeth pulled after the game.' And they're asking questions, and I ask them if they've had their wisdom teeth pulled. Whether they say yes or no, I always say, 'Can I see? Can I see your wisdom teeth?' or, 'Do you still have holes in your mouth?' And so when they look up and open their mouth, I have a big clump of grass and dirt in my hand and I just throw it in there."
Luckily for Barkley, he's in good company. Manning said he got multiple players, a few coaches and, somewhat inadvertently, longtime Giants wide receiver Amani Toomer with the prank.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as How Eli Manning Pranked Rookie Saquon Barkley by Shoving Grass in His Mouth.
