Gary Barnidge: From Journeyman to Spotlight with the Cleveland Browns

The Cleveland Browns beat the Baltimore Ravens in exciting fashion on Sunday in overtime with another enormous contribution from their tight end Gary Barnidge. The 30 year old tight end is having the best year of his career after being a relative journeyman, do everything type guy for the first seven years of his career. Opportunity has knocked and Barnidge has answered in a huge way, producing huge numbers and matching a mark of former Browns’ Hall of Famer Ozzie Newsome, who just happened to be the opposing team’s general manager this week.

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Barnidge played his collegiate career at Lousville during the height of the Bobby Petrino era when they had Brian Brohm at the peak of his powers. After his freshman year, catching 7 passes for 85 yards but 4 touchdowns, Louisville switched from Conference USA and went to the then Big East Conference, giving them a substantial boost to their stature.

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In his junior year, Louisville had their breakout year, winning 12 games and getting a program changing victory in the Orange Bowl against Wake Forest. Their one loss was to on the road against a talented Rutgers team led by Ray Rice, Brian Leonard. Barnidge caught 31 passes that season for 511 yards and another 4 touchdowns.

Although Bobby Petrino used the Orange Bowl to cash in and take a head coaching job with the Atlanta Falcons that would end in disaster and humiliation, Brohm and Barnidge played one more season for the Cardinals and it was Barnidge’s most productive. His senior year saw him catch 53 passes for 655 yards and 7 touchdowns. Unfortunately, under new head coach Steve Kragthorpe, the team fell to 6-6, which was the peak of the of the extraordinarily disappointing Kragthorpe era in Louisville. He was replaced in 2009 by Charlie Strong.

Barnidge would leave Louisville and be drafted in the 5^th round of the 2007 NFL Draft by the Carolina Panthers. Largely a reserve/depth type player, Barnidge only started 11 games in his 5 year stint with the Panthers. Nevertheless, he did show hints of his ability to make plays as a pass catcher with 12 passes for 242 yards, including a 55 yard play in his second season.

The Jimmy Clausen era was not kind to anybody, including Barnidge and when the team drafted Cam Newton, they also acquired Jeremy Shockey and Greg Olsen, so Barnidge’s targets went to those two. In his final season in Carolina, Shockey was gone and while Olsen was still the lead tight end, Barnidge did start 5 games but was largely used as a blocker. Barnidge was only targeted 6 times the whole season but had 78 yards receiving and his first career touchdown in his fifth year in the league.

When the Browns hired Rob Chudzinski as their head coach, who had formerly served as the Panthers offensive coordinator, he wanted and got Gary Barnidge to come with him. After being largely ignored for his receiving ability and utilized more for blocking, Barnidge ended up starting 12 games in his first year with the Browns, catching 13 passes for 127 yards and 2 touchdowns; a breakout year for Barnidge from a receiving standpoint. Though the Browns had a tight end they liked in Jordan Cameron who could stretch the field a little bit and got a number of targets, Barnidge was utilized as a blocking option that could also catch passes and took advantage of opportunities Cameron provided for him. He caught another 13 passes for 156 yards in 2014.

In free agency, Jordan Cameron opted to use the Browns to get a contract offer he wanted from the Miami Dolphins and signed the exact deal the Browns were offering there. That has not worked out well for Cameron so far, but it created a sizable hole for the Browns at that tight end/big slot type spot. The team signed Rob Housler and drafted Randall Telfer and signed undrafted free agent E.J. Bibbs to try to address the position, though Telfer was coming in injured, so the position looked to be Housler’s for the taking.

The Browns signed Dwayne Bowe, who has been an embarrassment and a disaster, to be a receiver with size. With Dwayne No Go, the Browns needed someone with size that could make some plays in the red zone and the middle of the field.

Sep 20, 2015; Cleveland, OH, USA; Cleveland Browns tight end Gary Barnidge (82) runs the ball against the Tennessee Titans during the first quarter at FirstEnergy Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Scott R. Galvin-USA TODAY Sports

With Housler out there, but the combination of Housler and Bowe accounting for just one catch (Housler, today), Barnidge is getting the opportunities and taking full advantage. After 44 catches for 604 yards and 3 touchdowns in 7 years, Barnidge has caught 24 passes for 374 yards and 3 touchdowns in just 5 games this season. 20 of those catches for 319 yards and 3 touchdowns are just from the past three weeks, which is the first Browns tight end since Ozzie Newsome to catch a touchdown in three straight games.

The production for Barnidge would be enough but how he has produced the past few weeks has been just as important. He has made critical catches in late game situations including an acrobatic 27 yard pass on a flag route against the Chargers that would set the Browns up on the goal line for a touchdown to none other than Barnidge.

Barnidge caught a pass on the goal line against the Ravens which he ultimately trapped with his legs before grabbing it with his hands on rolling into the end zone that would enabled the Browns to go up 30-27. In overtime, when the Browns got the ball, they went right back to Barnidge for 35 yards that helped them set up the game winning field goal.

Now, Barnidge has gone from journeyman to spotlight and is having the best year of his career and helping the Browns not only compete, but today, helped them win an important divisional game on the road in Baltimore, helping them to a 2-3 record.

The Browns and their offensive coordinator John DeFilippo are getting results from all kinds of sources – from rookies and young players coming into their own to players like Barnidge who look like they could be late bloomers and are taking advantage of opportunities to shine in big spots. Barnidge has a shot to eclipse his career totals just this season and has already matched his career in touchdowns, with 11 games left to pass it as well as match his career catches and yards totals.

Barnidge has already been a hit in Cleveland as he has been a professional that just did his job, but also because he has been taking kids to movies on a weekly basis basically since he got into the NFL. His production as of late may make Barnidge as well as his efforts within the community far more popular as well. For the Browns and for Gary Barnidge, his hardwork and perseverance were worth the wait.