Ronde Barber announced this week that he would join a collection of high profile group of his contemporaries in retiring from the NFL. The highly-decorated cornerback, who became the first player ever to achieve at least 40 interceptions and 25 sacks during his career, spent all 16 of his seasons with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Barber joins Ray Lewis, Steve Hutchinson, Matt Birk, Jeff Saturday, Donald Driver and Jason Hansen, among others, who have decided that the 2012 season will be their last. The clock starts this season on the five year wait to see when – or if – they will eventually be enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Barber’s pursuit of immortality in Canton will be an interesting one. In addition to the 47 interceptions and 28 sacks he finished with, he went to five Pro Bowls and was named first team All Pro by the Associated Press three times. That puts him a notch ahead of Ty Law, who profiles at a 5/2 in those same categories.
But Barber’s post-season accolades trail the profiles of Champ Bailey (12/3 and still active), who is almost inarguably the best cornerback of the 2000s, and Charles Woodson (8/3). Both of those guys were first team cornerbacks on the Team of the Decade for the 2000s, while Barber and Law were second teamers.
I think those numbers and the presence of guys like Lewis and Hutchinson (13/7 and 7/5 respectively) all gaining eligibility in 2018 are going to make it incredibly difficult for Barber to earn enough votes to make him a first ballot enshrinee. The inability of Aeneas Williams (8/3) to get elected in his first four shots also hurts Barber, as Wiliams’ eight Pro Bowls and three AP first-team awards trump the former Buc.
Will he get in eventually? My inclination would be to say yes. He does have the advantage of playing cornerback rather than safety, a position voters have not come around on yet. But it’s not a given that second-string Team of the Decade candidates are elected. See again Aeneas Williams, who joined Darrell Green from Washington as second teamers on the 1990s team. Green, along with All Decade first teamers Deion Sanders and Rod Woodson, are enshrined.
Barber, in my eyes, falls right on that borderline of players where you can make the case either way. Can you tell the story of the NFL without mentioning Barber? I don’t know. As mentioned, his abilities as both cover man and blitzer were unique. But did that truly redefine the position? I’m not sure.
How do the rest of his stats look comparatively? According to Pro Football Reference, his 47 interceptions put him fifth among active cornerbacks, but just 47th all-time. His eight interception returns for touchdowns put him second among active players and seventh all time. His 923 interception return yards are second and 16th.
Barber was definitely durable, having played all 16 games every season since 1998. The 232 he started overall put him second among active players and 16th ever. The 241 in which he played left him fourth among the active and 49th overall.
Though it’s not supposed to come into play, Barber also may benefit from his reputation as just an all around good guy. Does these factors push him over the top? Hard to say. Where he ultimately falls in the hierarchy of cornerbacks of this era will be an interesting debate.
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He should get in within his first 4-6 ballots. All depends on where the chips fall from now , until he is first eligible. Ray Lewis is an automatic first ballot. I could see Ronde being a 1st-2nd ballot .
Ray Lewis, Steve Hutchinson and possibly Charles Woodson, Brian Urlacher and Randy Moss will join Ronde as HOF eligible in 2018. I’d put Ronde at number 6 among those names so his first ballot chances are between slim and none. He’ll also face fierce competition from whichever names are still left on the modern era ballot following the HOF vote in 2017.
Aeneas Williams will likely be elected within the next two years as he’s reached the Final 10 in the last two HOF ballots. It appears to be only be a matter of time for Aeneas. From there on, Ty Law in 2015 and Barber/Woodson will be the next CBs with a serious chance. I’d expect Woodson and Champ Bailey (first ballot imo) to be the next CBs elected after Williams with both Law and Barber eventually making it to Canton by the mid 2020s.
HOf voters have not been kind to the 3rd and lower best CBs of a decade/era teams (look at teams of the 1980s and 1990s) so I would suspect Barber may have a longer wait then one might expect for election, as lets keep in mind that over the last (and next) few years many other higher ranked and higher profile players from all positions from his era (2000s decade) will become eligible giving him some considerable competition, I can see him eventually getting elected but is going to take 5-10 elections.