Marion Barber Calls it a Career

After 10 years in the NFL, running back Marion Barber has announced his retirement from the game of football. The Cowboys’ running back had been battling injuries over the past few seasons, and he decided to hang up his cleats following a season-ending injury in 2014’s Week 3 loss to the New York Giants. Barber spent the first eight years of his career with the Dallas Cowboys, before moving on to play two seasons with the Chicago Bears and then returning to Dallas for one final year in 2014 after being released by Chicago due to injury concerns.

Key Stats

Marion Barber II, born in Tuscaloosa, Alabama on January 17, 1984, played football at The University of Oklahoma from 2003 to 2006. He earned second-team All-Big 12 honors and honorable mention All-American as a senior after rushing for 1,216 yards and eight touchdowns. In 2005 he ran for 1,119 yards with 19 touchdowns. During his four seasons with Oklahoma he was consistently ranked among school leaders in rushing attempts and rushing yards. His best season was 2005 when he also had 287 receiving yards and six touchdowns on 22 receptions; that year he averaged 6.4 yards per carry en route to earning an invitation to play in both the Senior Bowl and East–West Shrine Game. He was drafted by Dallas Cowboys in 2007 NFL Draft (6th round). In 2008 he rushed for 566 yards and one touchdown. On August 25, 2009, Marion Barber signed a three-year contract extension worth $8 million ($3 million guaranteed) with Dallas Cowboys through 2012 season. On March 8, 2010 Marion Barber was released by Dallas Cowboys due to salary cap reasons. Since then he has been playing for Chicago Bears but due to injuries is not expected to return next season.

The Highlights

Marion Barber II, better known to most as Barber or M.B. has called it quits from pro football. The last few years have not been kind to him and his body gave out long before he wanted to retire. He had said that he would like to play one more year but at 29 years old with all of his injuries, he knows that won’t happen. He was just too injury prone and only played in 78 games in 8 years. Not exactly what you want out of your first round pick back in 2005 but we did get some good years out of him including two 1,000 yard seasons along with 12 touchdowns during those two seasons and an appearance in Super Bowl 43 against ............ (you fill in here). He finishes his career with 2,977 yards rushing on 790 carries (3.8 ypc) while scoring 31 total touchdowns. His best season came in 2008 when he rushed for over 1,200 yards on 235 carries (5.1 ypc) while scoring 10 times en route to earning a trip to Hawaii for the Pro Bowl where he scored two TDs and was named MVP of that game. A pretty solid career for someone who was taken so high early on but never lived up to expectations until later on in his career when he became more of a change-of-pace type back rather than carrying an entire offense on his shoulders like many thought he could do coming out of college.

The Start

Injuries cost Marion Barber his job with Dallas. The Cowboys released Barber just one season after he signed a five-year, $20 million contract with Dallas, citing his inability to stay healthy. While injuries are unfortunate for anyone, especially in Barber’s case as he spent most of his career as an incredibly durable runner, there may be another reason why Dallas didn’t want him around. According to reports from ESPN and other sources, it was during 2011 that the Cowboys realized their running back had lost significant weight and wasn’t doing what he needed to do off-the-field either. Barber was born in Austin, Texas and attended James Bowie High School. At 5'10 and 233 pounds, he ran for over 4,000 yards as a senior. He was not recruited by Division I schools, so he signed with Division II West Georgia College. In his freshman year he suffered a season-ending knee injury after playing in only three games. The next year was better: Barber led West Georgia to an 8–3 record (with an undefeated regular season) while rushing for 1,400 yards and 14 touchdowns on 225 carries. He finished second behind Darrell Russell of NCAA Division I-AA member McNeese State University in voting for 1999 Southland Conference Player of the Year.

The Middle Years

The Dallas Cowboys are coming off an up-and-down season in which they achieved some success, but fell short of expectations. Despite being successful on defense and special teams (ranking 3rd in both categories), Dallas had major issues on offense. That isn't to say that Marion Barber was solely responsible for all offensive woes, but he did play a big role. After missing multiple games with an injury and averaging only about 20 carries per game, Barber had his worst season yet. He carried for just 468 yards at a clip of 2.9 yards per carry and just one touchdown; both numbers were career lows. On top of that, Barber fumbled three times over six games. As a result, Dallas decided not to bring him back next year. Instead, they'll be looking to younger backs like Felix Jones and Phillip Tanner while also bringing in veteran BenJarvus Green-Ellis from New England. With those changes underway, it's time for us as fans to start saying goodbye to one of our favorite players: Marion Barber II.

2006 Season

Marion Barber spent two years at Oklahoma State, where he earned consensus All-America honors as a junior. The First Team All-Big 12 running back rushed for 1,571 yards and 16 touchdowns in 2005. Following his junior campaign, Barber declared for early entry into the NFL Draft, but went undrafted. While Cowboys head coach Bill Parcells announced that he would honor Barber's request to try out with Dallas during rookie minicamp in May 2006, he opted not to sign him at that time. He did sign with Dallas on August 6, 2006 after attempting to prove himself in training camp as well as competing against Julius Jones and Marion's cousin Tatum Bell for playing time behind starter Julius Jones. After being signed by Dallas, Barber had a solid season backing up starting running back Julius Jones. He finished second on the team in rushing attempts (136), rushing yards (475) and rushing touchdowns (4). His 4 rushing touchdowns were tied for third most among all NFL rookies. He also caught 18 passes for 132 yards (7.1 avg.) and one touchdown. In 2007, after starting RB Emmitt Smith retired from football, Barber won an open competition with fellow RBs Dantrell Savage and Ryan Moats for starting duties going into 2007 season under new Head Coach Wade Phillips.