Tiki Barber is continuing to work out and prepare for what he says will be a comeback season in 2011. But in a nod to his age, the 36-year-old Barber did admit that he won’t be the player he was when he last played, in 2006.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen, I’m not saying I’m coming in and being an every-down guy or going to rush for 1,800 yards again, but I know I can play this game and be a contributor,” Barber told the New York Post. “I’m not trying to be who I was.”
The Post suggests that either the Steelers or the Buccaneers would make the most sense for Barber, who says he’ll play for some team looking for a veteran who’s already familiar with the offense, and perhaps who already knows many of the players and coaches.
“I’ll be somewhere where I know the people, know the staff,” Barber said. “It will be a team that needs some veteran leadership or just needs a little push or needs somebody they can count on to fit a role.”
But no team should expect that role to be playing the way Barber did five years ago.