Why Tiki Barber Cannot Find Work

No team was willing to sign Tiki Barber in the running back's attempt to make a comeback. This has somehow left his agent "flabbergasted." It is not difficult to see why the former Giant was having trouble finding a team willing to take him on. Running back is a position where teams can easily find adequate players who are young, cheap, and lowly drafted. 36 year olds who have not played in five years are not attractive. In many ways, this was an Apollo Creed in Rocky IV kind of comeback. I think it goes deeper, though.

Everybody knows what a selfish guy Barber is. He announced he was retiring during the 2006 season, providing his team an unnecessary huge distraction. He constantly in public trashed Tom Coughlin, the coach who made him a star by teaching him how to not fumble. He left his pregnant wife for a 23 year old intern he worked with in television. He even compared his situation to that of a Jewish teenage girl murdered by the Nazis.

The second paragraph as much as the first paragraph tells why Barber cannot find a job. A lot of older players whose productive days are gone can find work in the NFL. Think Mark Brunell. Think LaDainian Tomlinson. These guys have some value to the Jets because they can serve as role models to young guys at their respective positions. They can teach the youngsters how to prepare and conduct themselves as professionals. I tend to think that Barber would at least have gotten a look in somebody's training camp had he acted in better fashion over these past few years and potentially have been a good mentor, even if making a team was a long shot.