Gary Barnidge Trivia Quiz

Answer: Carolina Panthers

Barnidge was taken in the fifth round of this draft. Interestingly, the Panthers actually traded up to get Barnidge in this round, trading away the draft rights to Kris Jenkins to the Jets in return for the 141st pick, used on Barnidge.

Answer: 0

Barnidge only actually saw the field on offense for 14 plays, and on just one of them was he targeted. Alas, Barnidge did not haul in his only target and, thus, went his entire rookie year without a reception. This does not at all mean Barnidge was unimpactful however, as he played in fifteen games for the Panthers and was a key blocker on punting situations, as well as part of the line on kickoff.

While not completely dignifying statistically, Barnidge definitely at least saw the field.

Answer: Roughly 250

Barnidge caught twelve passes for 242 yards. That's an average of over 20 yards a reception, which is pretty wild for a big man tight end, a position not known for being able to stretch the field. Unfortunately for Barnidge, his numbers could have been even stronger had he been more efficient at hauling the ball in, as he led the league in drops despite his rather low usage and hauled in just 51% of the balls thrown his way.

Answer: Injury

Barnidge suffered an unfortunate broken ankle in the preseason which ended the campaign for him before it could even start. In spite of this, Carolina did activate the team option in his contract for one more season, indicating that the franchise believed Barnidge could still perform adequately for them despite the setback.

Answer: Philadelphia Eagles

In the first quarter, Philadelphia had managed a field goal on their opening drive to take a 3-0 lead. On Carolina's drive, their high flying offense blew down the field quickly in a few minutes, culminating in a Cam Newton 24 yard strike to Gary Barnidge for Barnidge's first career score. Carolina went on to win the game 30-22.

In the game as a whole, Barnidge would only have this lone touchdown reception and did not get involved further in the box score. Still, the connection was very representative of his career to this point; he was not involved much, but when called upon, he delivered explosively.

Answer: Cleveland Browns

At the time, it was a one year deal for the veteran's minimum. Barnidge had been formally let go by Carolina and didn't attract a lot of interest apart from Cleveland. In his first season with the Browns, Barnidge hauled in a career high two touchdowns to go with another personal best of thirteen receptions.

Answer: 9

In addition to hitting paydirt nine times, Barnidge broke the thousand yard receiving mark for the first and only time in his career with 1,043 yards. As per the NFL's top 100 players ranking later that season, Barnidge was by far the best player on the entire Cleveland Browns roster.

Incidentally, Barnidge's jersey would also become the highest selling piece of apparel on the team's entire website. And, well... I had a hand in contributing to that, purchasing my own Barnidge jersey I still have today.

Answer: Tied for most TD receptions in one year

Barnidge tied legendary Cleveland Brown Ozzie Newsome, who set the record in 1979, for most TDs caught by a Browns tight end in one season. Compared to Newsome's record, Barnidge actually had significantly more receiving yards, totalling out to 1,043 for him and 761 for Newsome. Barnidge was also far more efficient than Newsome, catching 63% of his targets compared to Newsome's 54% in 1979. As such, statistically, Barnidge's 2015 season was indeed the greatest for a Browns tight end, ever.

Having said that, funnily enough, this was actually a down year for Barnidge as a blocker. Previously, in Carolina and, to a slightly lesser extent in his first two seasons in Cleveland, Barnidge had been mainly deployed as a blocker. His resurgence as a receiver almost definitely had to do with his declining stats as a blocker.

Answer: Zero

The iron man Barnidge, who had endured his fair share of bruises and hits as a big man tight end, did not miss a single snap in all of 2016 despite requiring Sports Hernia surgery. Sadly, it's possible that the surgery served to slow him down a fair bit, as he took a big step back from 2015 and had just over half the receiving yards (612 compared to the 1,043 the year prior) with only two touchdowns.

He was still one of the more productive tight ends in the league, but this was not the rousing success attracting national attention that he had experienced before.

Answer: Nowhere

Barnidge would attend workouts with Buffao, New York and even his old stomping grounds in Carolina, to try and demonstrate that he could still perform in the league. Sadly, he was never signed and, shortly after the season began, Barnidge formally announced his retirement.