Really Tiki Barber?

Tiki Barber announced yesterday that he intends to end his retirement and try and revive his NFL career. Say what? Barber, who turns 36 next month, played his last NFL game over 4 years ago (January 7, 2007). He finished the 2006 season with over 2000 all-purpose yards and in the midst of a string of 5 straight seasons with at least 1200 yards rushing. But that was a long time ago. I honestly don't know what you can expect from him now. Four years is a long time to be away from the game. I would assume he's not expecting to come in and be a feature back, maybe play on third downs and special teams or something, but I really have no idea. 36 is old for a running back. Let's look and see what some other prominent running backs were doing when they turned 36:

Emmitt Smith - Retired at Age 35 - Final Season 937 yds 9 TDs
Walter Payton - Retired at Age 33 - Final Season 533 yds 4 TDs
Curtis Martin - Retired at Age 32 - Final Season 735 yds 5 TDs
Jerome Bettis - Retired at Age 33 - Final Season 368 yds 9 TDs
Marcus Allen - 830 yds 9 TDs at age 36, 505 yds 11 TDs at age 37*
Franco Harris - Retired at Age 34 - Final Season 170 yds 0 TDs
John Riggins - 677 yds 8 TDs at age 36**
Thurman Thomas - Retired at Age 34 - Final Season 136 yds 0 TDs
Ottis Anderson - Retired at Age 35 - Final Season 31 yds 0 TDs
Fred Taylor - 155 yds 0 TDs last season at age 34
Earnest Byner - Retired at Age 35 - Final Season 313 yds 0 TDs
Joe Perry - 98 yds 0 TDs at age 36***
Bill Brown - 41 yds 0 TDs at age 36****

 *Note that Allen never had more than 208 carries in a season between ages 26 and 37.
**Riggins ran for an absurd 24 touchdowns at age 34 and 14 at age 35.
***Perry who retired in 1963 never had a 200 carry season
****Brown had fewer than 100 carries in each of his last 4 seasons

We'll stop there since that's limited to guys with 1600 carries. Aside from Riggins and Allen there's really no 36 year old running backs in NFL history who ever had a substantial impact. Now the argument could probably be made that Barber has fewer miles on him since he took 4 years off. The only problem with that is that the bottom 3 guys on that list all had fewer carries than Barber did despite playing longer. In fact, only 26 running backs in history had MORE carries than Barber did during his career. So I don't know that that argument works.

 Photo Courtesy: nydailynews.com

One thing Tiki has going for him is that he was also a very good pass catcher. In each of his last 8 seasons he caught at least 50 passes. So maybe there's a nitch for him as a third down back; a Kevin Faulk type perhaps. It will be interesting to see who, if anyone, is willing to take a gamble on him. If I had to bet I would say Tampa Bay so he could play with twin brother Ronde Barber. With Cadillac Williams not likely to return there would be an empty spot behind LeGarrette Blount so it's POSSIBLE. It really comes down to how much the guy has in the tank AND what kind of role is he willing to accept.


For kicks I figured I'd put this out to the Fantasy Football League I've been playing in for the last ten years, and see what the guys thought:

Dougie, Giants Fan Extraordinare - "I hope Tiki Barber doesn't make it through his first practice back. F that guy!"

Cumbo, 2nd Winningest Manager All-time in Drydock League History - "WTF?!?! Somebody will pick him up, but on the cheap. I can't imagine he'll become the number 1 anywhere. 35, out of the game for 4 years, problems at home, etc. We'll see. He's not on my fantasy roster list right now."

Garrett, 9 year Drydock League Veteran - "I'm going to go out on a limb and say that this will be a failure... I think he's making calls to Jerry Rice and Deion Sanders for comebacks as well... maybe they will be the guys called in as the Replacements if there is a lockout!"

Angryman, 8 year Drydock League Veteran and Reigning Champion - "I'm thinking about taking him first round."

Kevin, die-hard Lions fan, 5 year Drydock League Veteran - "Will it be Al Davis, Dan Snider, Jerry Jones????? The Bucs would be cool to see both him and his bro on the same team. I also see the Broncos are interested... maybe. I want to see the first GM sign him and take the subsequent media bashing. Sadly, I think he'd be a decent #2 in Detroit now that Kevin Smith is a goner and Mo Morris is the only one left."

Rue, 4 year Drydock League Veteran - "He's stupid... He may still have it in him, but I believe his reasons are less than moral and I will no longer root for him as an individual. As far as I'm concerned he might as well wear #4."