Since his retirement, Tiki Barber has managed to make quite a few people angry with his quotes in the news as well as on national television, including even his own former teammates. Before Tiki turned into a loudmouth analyst though, he was the All-Pro running back for the New York football Giants!
Tiki struggled early on in his career, failing to rush for more than 511 yards in his first three seasons in the NFL. He finally broke out, rushing for 1,006 yards in the 2000 season when he was teamed with Ron Dayne as “Thunder and Lightning.”
In 2002, Tiki took the reins as the feature back. From 2002-2006, Tiki arguably carried the entire Giants’ offense single-handedly. He accounted for 12, 877 yards from scrimmage over that span, leading the NFL in 2004 and 2005.
Tiki retired with his name splattered across the Giants’ record book, as well as the NFL’s. At the time of his retirement, he was one of 21 players to rush for 10,000 yards. He shares the connotation of being one of only three running backs to have over 10,000 yards rushing and 5,000 yards receiving with Marshall Faulk and Marcus Allen.
Despite the fact that Tiki’s post-football antics have likely taken all attention of his pro career, there is no denying Tiki Barber was a stellar athlete during his time. More time in the NFL would certainly have catapulted him up this list and put him in place for the Hall of Fame, but unfortunately, that is all for naught.
