Antwan Edward Barnes (born October 19, 1984) is an American former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and typically line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and so back up the defensive linemen. They play closer to the line ...

. He was selected by the

Baltimore Ravens The Baltimore Ravens are a professional American football team based in Baltimore. The Ravens compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team plays its home g ...

in the fourth round of the 2007 NFL draft. He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

at Florida International. Barnes also played for the

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. The team plays its ...

San Diego Chargers The San Diego Chargers were a professional American football team in the National Football League (NFL). The Chargers played in San Diego, California from 1961 until 2016, before relocating back to the Greater Los Angeles area, where the franch ...

, and

New York Jets The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The team p ...

College career

After graduating from Miami Norland High School, Barnes played

Florida International University Florida International University (FIU) is a public research university with its main campus in Westchester, Florida, United States. Founded in 1965 by the Florida Legislature, the school opened to students in 1972. FIU is the third-largest univ ...

Miami, Florida Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

, where he was a 2006 All-

Sun Belt Conference The Sun Belt Conference (SBC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference that has been affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA's NCAA Division I, Division I since 1976. Originally a non-football confe ...

selection and the school's all-time sacks leader with 21.5. On April 29, 2007, he became the first player in FIU history to be drafted by a

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

team when he was selected in the fourth round with the 134th overall pick by the Baltimore Ravens.

Professional career

Baltimore Ravens

At the 2007

NFL Scouting Combine The NFL Scouting Combine is a week-long showcase occurring every February at Lucas Oil Stadium (and formerly at the RCA Dome until 2008) in Indianapolis, where college football players perform physical and mental tests in front of National Foot ...

, Barnes ran a 4.43 second 40 yard dash, and put up 31 reps on the bench press. Barnes was a promising rookie in 2007, notching 2 sacks, 1 forced fumble, and 10 solo tackles. During a 2007

preseason In an organized sports league, a typical season is the portion of one year in which regulated games of the sport are in session: for example, in Major League Baseball the season lasts approximately from the last week of March to the last week of S ...

game, Barnes delivered a blind side hit on

punter Sav Rocca, knocking off his

helmet A helmet is a form of protective gear worn to protect the head. More specifically, a helmet complements the skull in protecting the human brain. Ceremonial or symbolic helmets (e.g., a policeman's helmet in the United Kingdom) without protecti ...

. Even though officials did not penalize Barnes during the game, the league fined him $12,500 for the hit. In 2008, on a roster deep with linebackers, he made a name for himself as a stand out special teams player, also making his first post-season appearance. In 2009, Barnes started the year with his first career interception (against the

, his future team), but then saw no action for several games. The team finally started using him late in the season, with the defense having struggled with its pass rush, and he came in and notched 3 sacks and 10 solo tackles, as well as a forced fumble.

Philadelphia Eagles

Barnes was traded to the

in exchange for a 2011 seventh-round draft pick on September 4, 2010. He was released on October 9, after being sparsely used and posting only three tackles.

San Diego Chargers

Barnes was signed by the

on October 12, 2010. He made an immediate impact, notching two sacks on

Tom Brady Thomas Edward Patrick Brady Jr. (born August 3, 1977) is an American former professional American football, football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 23 seasons. He spent his first 20 seasons with the New Engla ...

in a game against the New England Patriots. As a backup pass-rush specialist, he ended the season in San Diego with 4.5 sacks and 15 tackles. On July 27, 2011, the Chargers re-signed Barnes to a two-year contract. In the 2011 season, he established himself as one of the top pass rushers on the Chargers team, starting 5 games, and notching 41 tackles, 11 sacks, and 2 forced fumbles. His best career game came against his former team, the

, on a prime-time December 18 game in San Diego, where he garnered 4 sacks against quarterback Joe Flacco, his former teammate, along with 6 total tackles.

New York Jets

Barnes signed a two-year contract with the

on March 18, 2013. Barnes was placed on injured reserve on October 9, 2013, after suffering a season-ending knee injury. After spending the first six weeks of 2014 on the physically unable to perform list, Barnes was activated on October 15, 2014. He was released on December 1, 2014.

NFL career statistics

Regular season

Playoffs

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barnes, Antwan 1984 births Living people Miami Norland Senior High School alumni Players of American football from Miami American football linebackers FIU Panthers football players Baltimore Ravens players Philadelphia Eagles players San Diego Chargers players New York Jets players