Saquon Barkley admits big regret about departure from Giants

In an episode of the "Scoop City" podcast uploaded on Tuesday morning, Philadelphia Eagles running back Saquon Barkley told Dianna Russini of The Athletic that he had one big regret about his offseason departure from the New York Giants.

"I had a goodbye video to Giants fans — I don’t think I handled that situation right at all," Barkley said. "I said a quick thank you to the Giants fans, but I actually had a legit response like a goodbye, and I let the hate on Twitter take me away from that, and that was really immature of me, and that’s the one thing about that whole process that I kind of regret. Because Giants fans, still — I know a lot of them hate me or whatever — since the day I got drafted I got a lot of love, I’d see a lot of people in my jersey, I tried to spend as much time as I can with them, show respect because they showed me a lot of respect. So I think I could have definitely said goodbye in a better way. Just being naive and immature, not even thinking that it really mattered that much."

Details continue to unfold surrounding the two-time Pro Bowler's exit from Big Blue, especially with the Giants being the focus of the debut season of "Hard Knocks: Offseason."

Months before the HBO series first aired on July 2, it was reported that New York co-owner John Mara discussed how "sick" he felt after Barkley's departure during a text conversation with the 27-year-old.

In a recent episode of "Hard Knocks: Offseason with the New York Giants," Mara called Barkley "the most popular player we have, by far" soon before the former AP Offensive Rookie of the Year joined the NFC East rival.

The G-Men chose not to place the franchise tag on Barkley in early March, making him a free agent.

The Penn State product signed a three-year, $37.75M deal with Philadelphia on March 11.

It was revealed in a recent episode of the show that Giants general manager Joe Schoen offered almost as much as the Eagles gave Barkley.

"I offered him today a three-year deal at $12.5 (million) APY and $25 (million) guaranteed to be a Giant," Schoen said.

Schoen's offer is only $250K less than the deal Barkley signed with Philadelphia.