Dawgs By Nature
The ranking of tight ends is a tricky position. These players are receivers, but are expected to snag passes. They aren’t offensive linemen, but they have to block along the line to assist the running game.
Often referred to as “skinny offensive line”, tight ends are either occasionally utilized in the game plan in 11 personnel or used extensively, like in 13 personnel.
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Former Cleveland Browns tight end Gary Barnidge was used in both aspects of the game: as a run blocker and to help the passing attack. His NFL playing size was 6’-6” and a beefy 250 pounds. He played eight years in the NFL, with his final four in Cleveland.
Barnidge grew up in Middleburg, Florida, just 26 miles down Highway 21 southwest of Jacksonville. He attended Middleburg High School and played basketball and football, but excelled at baseball. As he got older, he played basketball and baseball the longest, where he excelled as a first baseman because of his length, but he became tired of the game and started playing football later.
No longer focused on baseball, Barnidge’s football skills began to grow as he filled out. During his senior year, he had D-I scholarship offers from Louisville, Rutgers, Miami, Florida, South Florida, UConn, Louisiana-LaFayette, Ole Miss, and numerous D-2 programs. He chose to play college football at the University of Louisville, where he played in 47 games over four seasons.
He completed his college career with 108 receptions for 1,491 yards, a 13.8 yards per catch average, one fumble return for a TD, scored 17 receiving touchdowns, and scored 108 points. In his senior year, Barnidge was voted First Team All-Big East.
Barnidge was selected by the Carolina Panthers in the fifth round of the 2008 NFL draft. He was used sparingly on offense and was mainly a special teams member. In 2011, he broke his ankle in a preseason practice and missed the entire season. He came back in 2012 and played in all 16 games with five starts, again, used very little on offense other than as a blocker. He scored his first NFL touchdown on a 24-yard pass from Cam Newton.
He was allowed to test the free agent market and was signed by the Browns for the 2013 season. In 2015, somebody finally realized he had great hands and could get good YAC yardage. Josh McCown started the first eight games, followed by Johnny Football for the next six, and finally, Austin Davis finished out the year with two starts. Barnidge had 125 targets with 79 receptions for 1,043 yards, a 13.2 average yards per catch, scored nine touchdowns, converted 52 first downs, played in all 16 games with just 13 starts, and played on 939 offensive snaps, or 85% of all offensive reps.
Barnidge was playing well, and the ball was finally being thrown his way. For that 2015 season, he was voted to the Pro Bowl as an alternate. He tied the franchise record of...
