Shawn William Barber (born January 14, 1975) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, p ...

in the

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. He was drafted by the

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in the fourth round of the

1998 NFL Draft The 1998 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 18–19, 1998, at the Theater at M ...

. He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...

. He 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 club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team plays ...

Kansas City Chiefs The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The tea ...

and

Houston Texans The Houston Texans are a professional American football team based in Houston. The Texans compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division, and play their home ga ...

Early years

Barber was an all-district and all-region player as a

safety Safety is the state of being "safe", the condition of being protected from harm or other danger. Safety can also refer to risk management, the control of recognized hazards in order to achieve an acceptable level of risk. Meanings There are ...

at Hermitage High School in Richmond. Despite not playing football until he was a junior, he returned three

interception In ball-playing competitive team sports, an interception or pick is a move by a player involving a pass of the ball—whether by foot or hand, depending on the rules of the sport—in which the ball is intended for a player of the same team b ...

s for

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone. In Ameri ...

s and averaged over 20.0 yards per catch as a senior. He also earned all-district honors in

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

and

lettered Calligraphy (from el, link=y, καλλιγραφία) is a visual art related to writing. It is the design and execution of lettering with a pen, ink brush, or other writing instrument. Contemporary calligraphic practice can be defined as "t ...

once in

track Track or Tracks may refer to: Routes or imprints * Ancient trackway, any track or trail whose origin is lost in antiquity * Animal track, imprints left on surfaces that an animal walks across * Desire path, a line worn by people taking the shorte ...

. In addition, he also letter in baseball his senior year. He even dabbled in gymnastics in middle school.

College career

Barber began his collegiate career at the

University of Richmond The University of Richmond (UR or U of R) is a private liberal arts college in Richmond, Virginia. It is a primarily undergraduate, residential institution with approximately 4,350 undergraduate and graduate students in five schools: the School ...

as a safety but was moved to linebacker in his sophomore year. As a junior, Barber was an All-American honorable mention by the

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and an all-

Yankee Conference The Yankee Conference was a collegiate sports conference in the eastern United States. From 1947 to 1976, it sponsored competition in many sports, but was a football-only league from mid-1976 until its dissolution in 1996. It is essentially the an ...

first-team selection. He recorded 94 total

tackles Tackle may refer to: * In football: ** Tackle (football move), a play in various forms of football ** Tackle (gridiron football position), a position in American football and Canadian football ** Dump tackle, a forceful move in rugby of picking up ...

(56 solo), six sacks, 13 tackles for a loss, and a forced

fumble A fumble in gridiron football occurs when a player who has possession and control of the ball loses it before being downed (tackled), scoring, or going out of bounds. By rule, it is any act other than passing, kicking, punting, or successful ...

en route to becoming the

Atlantic 10 The Atlantic 10 Conference (A-10) is a collegiate athletic conference whose schools compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) Division I. The A-10's member schools are located in states mostly on the United States Eastern ...

Conference Defensive Player of the Year in 1997 as a senior. He also added three interceptions and on

special teams In American football, the specific role that a player takes on the field is referred to as their "position". Under the modern rules of American football, both teams are allowed 11 players on the field at one time and have "unlimited free substitu ...

he blocked two kicks. In his four seasons at Richmond, Barber played in a total of 44 games with 33 starts and totaled 305 tackles, 20 sacks, 30 tackles for a loss, and five interceptions.

Professional career

Washington Redskins

Barber was drafted in the

by the

. In 1998, Barber saw duty in 16 games (one

start Start can refer to multiple topics: *Takeoff, the phase of flight where an aircraft transitions from moving along the ground to flying through the air * Starting lineup in sports *Standing start, and rolling start, in an auto race Acronyms *St ...

) for the Redskins, amassing 34 tackles (28 solo), one interception, two

passes defensed In American football, a pass deflected, also known as a pass deflection, a pass defended, a pass , a pass knockdown, or a pass breakup, is an incomplete pass that is caused by a defensive player. This is done by slapping or blocking the ball with ...

and a forced fumble. Also added a team-high 15 special teams tackles. During the 1999 season, he opened all 16 Redskins games for the first time in his career and totaled a career-high 148 tackles, 1 sack, five passes defensed, three forced fumbles and eight special teams tackles. He also added two interceptions for 70 yards with a touchdown. In 2000, Barber started 14 games for Redskins and was inactive for two games. That season, he registered 82 tackles, 2.0 sacks, two fumble recoveries and two special teams tackles. His last year as a Redskin was 2001. While he was a Redskin he appeared in 49 games (34 starts), amassing 281 tackles, 3 sacks, three interceptions with one touchdown, two fumble recoveries, four forced fumbles and added 25 special teams tackles. While he was there, he started two playoff games in 1999, amassing 16 tackles, a sack and a forced fumble.

First stint with Eagles

Barber's first season with the

was in 2002. He started all 16 games as a linebacker and produced 119 tackles, one sack, two interceptions, including a career-long 80-yard touchdown, a career-high three fumble recoveries, one forced fumble, and seven passes defensed.

Kansas City Chiefs

In 2003, Barber was then signed by the

, as an unrestricted free agent where he started 16 games. He ranked second on the team with 112 tackles, was tied for second on the team with a career-high five sacks and had two forced fumbles, one interception, and five passes deflected. He started his first game in a Chiefs uniform against the

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on September 7, recording seven tackles and a team-high two passes deflected. During the 2004 season, he started the season's first eight games at linebacker and finished with 42 tackles and a sack, as well as five passes deflected, a forced fumble, two quarterback pressures and an interception. In 2005, he only played three games for the Chiefs. Due to

salary cap In professional sports, a salary cap (or wage cap) is an agreement or rule that places a limit on the amount of money that a team can spend on players' salaries. It exists as a per-player limit or a total limit for the team's roster, or both. Sever ...

issues, the Chiefs released him on March 2, 2006.

Second stint with Eagles

Barber was signed by the Eagles to a one-year deal on March 8, 2006.

Houston Texans

On March 19, 2007, Barber signed a three-year contract with the

. He was released on February 20, 2008.

Coaching career

Philadelphia Eagles

Barber became a coaching intern for the

during the 2010 offseason.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barber, Shawn 1975 births Living people Players of American football from Richmond, Virginia American football outside linebackers Kansas City Chiefs players Philadelphia Eagles players Richmond Spiders football players Washington Redskins players Houston Texans players Philadelphia Eagles coaches Ed Block Courage Award recipients