Barber Discusses Future

December 23, 2009 at 12:45pm by Scott   •  2 Comments »

Well, he doesn’t discuss the future future, like robots controlling our brains or aliens invading the earth and forcing us all to mate constantly (fingers crossed). No, Ronde Barber talks about his own future, and he’d definitely like to play another year.

“Hell yeah,” Barber said when asked if he wanted to play again next year. “I intend it to be yes. I’ve got to see if my body can deal with another offseason, but you know what, I think I will. I know I want to.”

When Barber was spared in the great purge of February, I was pretty sure that Raheem Morris had just picked his favorite old guy to keep and that he’d wither and die in the short-lived man scheme. But barring the lack of interceptions (he has none on the year), he has had a decent year. He’s always around the ball and opportunistic when it’s on the ground, and those kind of instincts are hard to replace. And you kind of take for granted that the guy hasn’t missed a game in ten years.

One thing his future isn’t about is coaching.

“I can’t see myself coaching,” said Barber. “Their hours are ridiculous. I like my kids and I never say never obviously, but I’m not looking forward to it because they put a lot of work in. Raheem always says, ‘Those who can, play. Those who can’t play, coach.’ I still like that I can so I’m not even thinking about coaching.”

He won’t coach (although Raheem should consider hiring Ronde to do his press conferences for him. You’re talkin’ about a guy that is a much better speaker than Morris.) The day after he retires, he’ll team up with his brother and they’ll do some project that will have both of their faces on camera constantly. Probably some kind of talk show thing where all their sponsors are men’s fashion designers and skull polish.