Yes, veteran cornerback Rondé Barber will retire after 16 NFL seasons. On Thursday, the Buccaneers will make it official via a 2:00 p.m. ET press conference.
And it sounds like another Ring of Honor induction and jersey retirement eventually will happen.
“Rondé is synonymous with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, establishing himself as one of our franchise’s iconic players over a 16-year, Hall of Fame-worthy career,” Buccaneers co-chairman Joel Glazer said. “When anyone thinks of Rondé, they think of a true professional and leader. He approached every day the same, giving everything he had to make himself and his teammates the best they could be. We will miss him.”
Barber became a fixture in the Tampa Two defense, tackling and covering receivers, sacking quarterbacks via the surprise blitz, and scoring 14 career regular-season return touchdowns.
“You heard the argument, ‘Oh, he’s only a system guy. He can only do this,’” Barber told JP Peterson of TampaBaySportsCentral.com. “Well, in a defense that everybody started playing, I did it better than anybody else.”
He definitely did. The only question is whether Rondé will make it to the Hall of Fame. Go ahead and cast an early ballot below.
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