More than 15 years after his last snap as an NFL running back, Tiki Barber is still finding ways to fumble.
The former Giants star, now a host for WFAN, apologized Monday for a breaking news scoop last week that was, well, broken, when he claimed the Jets canceled a joint practice with the Buccaneers because head coach Robert Saleh wouldn’t be in attendance.
Barber called his actions “reckless” and said he “smoothed it out” with the team while on air Monday.
“I knew where I went wrong,” Barber said. “We have talked it out, so to speak. Just wanted to get that out there because some people were curious about my thinking… We speculate in this business and I was wrong.”
Wrong he was.
The Buccaneers and Jets held a joint practice on Wednesday at the Atlantic Health Training Center in Florham Park, N.J. and initially were scheduled to return for a second day together on the field on Thursday.
But two days before the Buccaneers arrived, the New York Post’s Brian Costello reported Thursday’s practice was Jets only.
That didn’t stop Barber from taking to the airwaves Friday to tell a completely different — and inaccurate — story.
“The Jets canceled the practice on Thursday and the Bucs were already on their way here. Like, they’re not gonna come practice for a day,” Barber said per Awful Announcing.
“There were lots of theories on why, but I believe, from what I have now ascertained…through a second-hand party, that Coach Saleh couldn’t be at practice,” Barber said.
“This is the most important part of it. They are being filmed by ‘Hard Knocks.’ That when Saleh couldn’t be there, they had to cancel practice. It would elicit questions. ‘Why isn’t the coach here?’ What ‘Hard Knocks’ is showing has caused Robert Saleh to be criticized.”
Following Barber’s report, Jets beat writers were quick to dispel the allegation, with Costello tweeting, “This is not accurate. Saleh was at practice yesterday.”
Other reporters noted that Saleh even held his regularly scheduled press conference Thursday with the media.
Barber seemingly hoped the facts wouldn’t get in the way of a good story.