Anthony Barr (American football)


Anthony Barr is an American football outside linebacker for the Minnesota Vikings of the National Football League. He played college football at UCLA from 2010 to 2013, where he was a consensus All-American in 2013. He was drafted by the Vikings in the first round, ninth overall of the 2014 NFL Draft.
Barr was an offensive player his first two years at UCLA, playing running back, wide receiver and tight end. He struggled as a running back, and switched to linebacker during his junior year, at which position he was named a first team All-Pac-12 selection and to the CBSSports.com All-America second team. As a senior Barr received the Lott IMPACT Award after leading the team in sacks.
In 2014, Barr's first season playing professional football in the NFL, he was named NFC Defensive Player of the Week for Week 8 and selected for the Pro Football Focus All-NFC North Team. His rookie season was cut short due to a knee injury. Barr has since made four consecutive Pro Bowl appearances. In the spring of 2019, he signed a five-year extension of his contract with the Vikings.

High school career

Barr was born in South Bend, Indiana, but raised in Los Angeles, where he attended Loyola High School in the Pico-Union neighborhood. He was a letterman in football and track, and was an All-State selection at running back for the Loyola Cubs football team after rushing for 1,890 yards and 20 touchdowns as a junior. However, he missed virtually all of his senior season after breaking his ankle in the September, and was also unable to participate in the 2010 U.S. Army All-American Bowl, to which he was invited.
Barr also lettered four seasons in track and field. At the 2009 CIF Southern Prelims, he earned 11th-place finishes in both the 100 meter and the 200 meter dashes. He took silver in the 200 meter dash at the 2009 Mission League Championships, recording a personal-best time of 21.86 seconds.

Recruiting

Regarded as a four-star recruit by Rivals.com, Barr was listed as the No. 8 prospect and the No. 5 athlete out of the state of California. According to Scout.com, he was ranked as the No. 100 national prospect and the No. 10 outside linebacker. He was also rated as the No. 1 athlete by MaxPreps. With scholarship offers from dozens of schools, Barr narrowed his decision down to Notre Dame and UCLA, before choosing the Bruins on January 21, 2010.

College career

Barr was an offensive player his first two years at UCLA, playing running back, wide receiver and tight end. On October 21, 2010, against the Oregon Ducks, Barr made his first start, and he made 1 catch for 17 yards. In 2011, he caught an 11-yard touchdown pass against the Houston Cougars. Although he started 12 games on offense in both years, he ran the ball 15 times for 54 yards. Barr struggled at being a running back, which almost caused him to quit football. However, prior to his junior season in 2012, he switched to linebacker.
During Barr's first year as a linebacker, he recorded 13.5 sacks, 21.5 tackles for loss and 83 tackles. His 13.5 sacks were the second-highest total in the nation. He was named a first team All-Pac-12 and was selected to the CBSSports.com College Football All-America second team. In Week 11, Barr was named Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week after his performance against the Washington State Cougars. At the team's annual awards banquet, Barr was named the Most Valuable Player on defense. In a November 2012 game against the USC Trojans, Barr sacked quarterback Matt Barkley, who suffered a season-ending shoulder injury.
In six games, Barr made more than 7 tackles, including nine against Stanford, eight in the Pac-12 Football Championship game, and nine in the Holiday Bowl against Baylor. Despite being touted as a potential first-round draft choice in the 2013 NFL Draft, Barr decided to return to UCLA for his senior season. On July 8, 2013, Barr was ranked 37th as a possibility for the Maxwell Award and 3rd as a candidate for the Chuck Bednarik Award. On July 15, 2013, Barr was named as a candidate for the Butkus Award and the Lombardi Award. He was also named to the 2013 preseason All-American team.
Barr was named Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week after week 2 of the 2013 season, a 41–21 win over Nebraska on September 14, 2013. He was also the Walter Camp Football Foundation player of the week on defense. For the 2013 regular season, Barr had 62 tackles, 20 for a loss and has forced five fumbles and recovered four. He led the team with 10 sacks for 66 yards and was rewarded with the Lott IMPACT Award. Barr is in sixth place on the all-time school list for tackles for loss and is tied for sixth on the school's all-time list for sacks. On December 11, 2013, Barr was named to the first-team All-American by the USA Today, becoming the first UCLA player since Kai Forbath to do so.

Statistics

Professional career

Barr was listed as one of the top linebacker prospects for the 2014 NFL Draft. After the college season concluded, he was projected as the No. 3 selection in the 2014 NFL Draft by Sports Illustrated. At the 2014 NFL Combine, Barr ran the 40-yard dash in 4.66 seconds, sixth-best among linebackers, and tied for 14th in the vertical. His 15 reps on the bench press were also dead last among those who participated, according to NFL.com's combine tracker. At the UCLA Pro Day on March 11, he ran an electronic 4.41 in the 40-yard dash, did 19 repetitions on the bench press and had a 10-foot-5 broad jump.
Barr was selected in the first round, ninth overall by the Minnesota Vikings, making him the highest selected defensive player out of UCLA since Eric Turner, second overall in 1991. He is the first UCLA player to be a top-10 selection since Jonathan Ogden, who was selected sixth overall in 1996. He also surpassed Jamir Miller, who was chosen tenth overall in 1994, as the highest Bruins linebacker ever selected.

2014 season

Barr signed a four-year, $12.7 million contract with the Vikings. He received a $7.6 million signing bonus and the team can exercise a fifth-year option. Barr played in and started 12 games for the Vikings and was awarded NFC defensive player of the week for week 8. Barr's 2014 season was cut short due to an injury and he was put on injured reserve. He ended his rookie season with 70 combined tackles, 4 sacks, 2 forced fumbles, 3 fumble recoveries and 3 pass deflections. He was a top contender for defensive rookie of the year and one of three Viking defenders named to the PFF All-NFC North Team.

2015 season

In the first game of the season, Barr played all 73 defensive snaps against the San Francisco 49ers and recorded a career-high 12 tackles. He was credited with 9 solo stops. In Week 4, Barr recording the first interception of his career. Barr broke his left hand in Week 9, but in Week 12 he made a career-high eight tackles, 1 sack, and forced two fumbles. For the season, he totaled 68 tackles, 4 tackles for loss, 3.5 sacks, 8 quarterback hurries, 1 interception, 7 passes defensed and 3 forced fumbles. On January 25, 2016, Barr was named to his first Pro Bowl.

2016 season

Barr struggled during the 2016 season, as he had only 37 solo tackles and 2.0 sacks. Despite a poor season in which coach Zimmer stated that Barr had a "tendency to coast," Barr was named to his second straight Pro Bowl.

2017 season

On May 1, 2017, the Vikings exercised the fifth year option on Barr's contract. Barr had 75 tackles, 33 solo tackles, 52 assisted tackles, and 1.0 sacks. On December 19, 2017, Barr was named to his third straight Pro Bowl.
On October 15, 2017, during the Vikings 23–10 victory against the Green Bay Packers, Barr recorded a hit that knocked Aaron Rodgers out of the game, injuring his collarbone. In an interview with Conan O'Brien, Rodgers claimed that Barr gave him "the finger" and told him to "suck it". Packers head coach Mike McCarthy called Barr's hit "illegal". In numerous tweets, Barr stated that Rodgers started trash-talking him, as well as stating that Rodgers "needs to get over it". Barr stated that he isn't a "dirty player", as well as insisting that he didn't intend to injure Rodgers. In March 2018, a photo of Barr's hit on Rodgers was sold at the Rosedale Center. On December 22, 2019, the Minneapolis Star Tribune received criticism from Packers fans after the newspaper included a photograph of Barr's hit on Rodgers in a column that summarized the 2010s in Minnesota sports.

2018 season

Barr was named to his fourth straight Pro Bowl. He finished the 2018 regular season with 55 tackles, 3.0 sacks, and one forced fumble in 13 games. On October 2, 2018, Barr was fined $30,080 for a face mask penalty along with horse collar penalties during a Week 3 matchup against the Buffalo Bills. On October 21, 2018, Barr suffered a hamstring injury against the New York Jets, ending a streak where he started in 44 games. Barr went on to miss three games, but returned on November 25 against the Packers.

2019 season

On March 11, 2019, it was reported that Barr would be signing a multi-year deal with the New York Jets. However, Barr changed his mind and re-signed with the Vikings on March 13, 2019, on a five-year, $67.5 million contract with $33 million guaranteed. In Week 5, Barr had his first interception since 2015. On October 26, 2019, Barr received a fine for a hit on Matthew Stafford during an Week 7 matchup against the Detroit Lions. On December 2, 2019, Barr recorded a season-high 11 tackles against the Seattle Seahawks. Throughout the year, Barr has had 79 tackles, 54 solo tackles, 25 assisted tackles, 1.5 sacks, and 1 interception.
In the of the playoffs against the San Francisco 49ers, Barr forced a fumble on running back Matt Breida and recovered the football, but the Vikings lost 27–10.

2020 season

Barr was placed on the reserve/COVID-19 list by the Vikings on July 30, 2020.

NFL career statistics

Personal life

Barr's father, Tony Brooks, and uncles, Reggie Brooks and Cedric Figaro, all played in the NFL. All of them also played at Notre Dame. Shortly after his birth in South Bend, Barr and his mother moved to the suburbs of Los Angeles where he was raised by his mother and maternal grandparents.
In 2016, Anthony Barr established "Raise the Barr", a nonprofit initiative to assist single-parent undergraduate students in Minnesota and California complete their post-secondary education by providing comprehensive resources to both parents and children. It raised over $250,000 to single parents and provided them with college and emergency grants. On June 27, 2018, it launched new emergency grant funding at Loyola High School, raising $50,000 in assistance, ticket sales, and auctioning.