Eli Manning Once Pranked Saquon Barkley by Putting Grass in His Mouth

Eli Manning revealed his longstanding prank on rookies during his NFL tenure. 

The two-time Super Bowl champion, 44, and his older brother Peyton, 48, recently joined Travis and Jason Kelce for the Thursday, Feb. 6 episode of their podcast, New Heights, and discussed Eli’s running prank.

Jason, 37, explained to Eli that typically on the podcast they ask their guests who are NFL players what their “Welcome to the NFL moment was.” When Saquon Barkley appeared on the March 27, 2024 podcast episode, he revealed that Eli put grass in his mouth as his welcoming ritual. 

Jason then asked Eli to confirm the legitimacy of the story. The former New York Giants quarterback cheekily said, “This is a confirmed story.” 

Barkley, 27, previously played as a running back alongside Eli on the Giants. He joined the Philadelphia Eagles for the 2024 season, the year after Jason retired from the league. Barkley is set to face Travis, 35, and the Kansas City Chiefs during Sunday’s Super Bowl in New Orleans.

Every year before the first preseason game, “the starters aren’t playing much,” Eli explained, and are instead focused on their routines. “How do we line up? How do we stretch? How do you run out of the tunnel? Like, all the pat and go. So we’re kinda doing those things,” Eli said.

“I’m kinda sitting on the sideline a long time, and I always kinda walk up to a few of the rookies, and I’m kinda holding my mouth,” Eli said, reenacting the prank by holding his jaw in pain. “I’m going, ‘Man, my teeth have been bothering me. I gotta get my wisdom teeth pulled after the game.’ ” 

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Eli said that they usually ask questions, and that prompts him to ask them if they have ever had their wisdom teeth removed. “Whether they say yes or no, I say, ‘Can I see? Can I either see your wisdom teeth?’ Or, ‘Do you still have holes in your mouth?’ ”

“So when they kinda open up, look up and open their mouth, I got a big clump of grass and dirt in my hand, and I just throw it in there,” Eli said as Jason and Travis laughed.

“I’ve got, like, three or four guys, on that first practice,” he said. “I got a few coaches.”

“[Former center] Shaun O’Hare and I were trying to get a rookie, and [former wide receiver] Amani Toomer came over,” Eli recalled. “Amani is in his ninth year, and he just jumped in the conversation.”

Toomer quickly fell for the prank, prompting O’Hare to put a ton of grass in Toomer’s mouth, Eli said. According to Eli, he and O’Hare told him, “We weren’t trying to get you. But you offered up this information; we couldn’t resist.”

“You volunteered yourself,” Jason said, with Tavis adding, “That’s so good, man.”