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Kendricks was among Barr’s teammates, including former safety Andrew Sendejo and linebacker Audie Cole, gathered at the Vikings’ Eagan headquarters on Monday to celebrate Barr — the hard-hitting defender who made four Pro Bowls as the first draft pick under former head coach Mike Zimmer.
Barr’s decorated NFL career, including nine seasons in Minnesota, started as a running back at UCLA. He was on offense for two years before asking to switch to linebacker. The 6-5 bulldozer quickly ascended into an impactful defender who delivered punishing hits that prominently injured two quarterbacks: USC’s Matt Barkley in 2012 and the Packers’ Aaron Rodgers in 2017.
Barr, a three-time team captain and a Walter Payton Man of the Year nominee for the Vikings, recalled showing up to his pre-draft visit at the team’s old Eden Prairie headquarters wearing a T-shirt and shorts.
It was snowing in April.
“Hopefully we don’t come here,” Barr, who grew up in Los Angeles, recalled thinking, “because I’m not trying to be in the snow in April. Six weeks later, they called.”
“But it ended up working out,” he added. “I actually like the snow more than I do the heat, so that’s kind of a change being a Cali boy.”
During Monday’s news conference, Barr thanked everyone from the team’s ownership and front office members to kitchen staff and equipment staffers. But he formed a particular bond with Zimmer, whose tenure aligned with Barr’s first run with the Vikings from 2014 through 2021.
Barr was Zimmer’s first draft pick and wise beyond his football years when he walked into the door as a 22-year-old rookie. Barr recalled Zimmer empowering him with responsibilities on and off the field. He was eventually part of the team’s leadership council, a group of players that Zimmer called upon when needing to test the temperature of the locker room.
“He entrusted me with communicating to the team,” Barr said. “Some things he didn’t feel comfortable saying, or if there was maybe a disconnect.”
Barr said he grew close to Minnesota, where he says his Raise The Barr Foundation will remain active in helping single-parent households with financial issues.
On the field, his most memorable game came in Green Bay at the end of the 2015 season. The Vikings won 20-13, clinching the NFC North in his second season.
“The last-second Rodgers Hail Mary,” Barr said, “where the clock expired but they obviously got it off because that’s kind of how they operate up there. … Very memorable game. It was fun, it was cold, against our division rivals up at their place to knock them off for the division title.”
Barr grew to love the Vikings organization so much that he dumped not one, but two franchises at the alter during his NFL tenure. In 2019, Barr infamously backed out of a multi-year deal with the New York Jets to return to the Vikings in free agency.
In 2023, when Barr was a free agent looking for work, he revealed on Monday that he was being fitted for a helmet in Philadelphia and about to sign a contract with the Eagles when the Vikings came calling.
Barr said he told Eagles General Manager Howie Roseman “plot twist, I’m actually about to head out. Thanks for everything.’”
“It just made sense at the time, and it still does,” said Barr, who hasn’t played since 2023. “I’m a Viking. I feel that in my heart, in my core.”
Source: STRIB
Barr’s decorated NFL career, including nine seasons in Minnesota, started as a running back at UCLA. He was on offense for two years before asking to switch to linebacker. The 6-5 bulldozer quickly ascended into an impactful defender who delivered punishing hits that prominently injured two quarterbacks: USC’s Matt Barkley in 2012 and the Packers’ Aaron Rodgers in 2017.
Barr, a three-time team captain and a Walter Payton Man of the Year nominee for the Vikings, recalled showing up to his pre-draft visit at the team’s old Eden Prairie headquarters wearing a T-shirt and shorts.
It was snowing in April.
“Hopefully we don’t come here,” Barr, who grew up in Los Angeles, recalled thinking, “because I’m not trying to be in the snow in April. Six weeks later, they called.”
“But it ended up working out,” he added. “I actually like the snow more than I do the heat, so that’s kind of a change being a Cali boy.”
During Monday’s news conference, Barr thanked everyone from the team’s ownership and front office members to kitchen staff and equipment staffers. But he formed a particular bond with Zimmer, whose tenure aligned with Barr’s first run with the Vikings from 2014 through 2021.
Barr was Zimmer’s first draft pick and wise beyond his football years when he walked into the door as a 22-year-old rookie. Barr recalled Zimmer empowering him with responsibilities on and off the field. He was eventually part of the team’s leadership council, a group of players that Zimmer called upon when needing to test the temperature of the locker room.
“He entrusted me with communicating to the team,” Barr said. “Some things he didn’t feel comfortable saying, or if there was maybe a disconnect.”
Barr said he grew close to Minnesota, where he says his Raise The Barr Foundation will remain active in helping single-parent households with financial issues.
On the field, his most memorable game came in Green Bay at the end of the 2015 season. The Vikings won 20-13, clinching the NFC North in his second season.
“The last-second Rodgers Hail Mary,” Barr said, “where the clock expired but they obviously got it off because that’s kind of how they operate up there. … Very memorable game. It was fun, it was cold, against our division rivals up at their place to knock them off for the division title.”
Barr grew to love the Vikings organization so much that he dumped not one, but two franchises at the alter during his NFL tenure. In 2019, Barr infamously backed out of a multi-year deal with the New York Jets to return to the Vikings in free agency.
In 2023, when Barr was a free agent looking for work, he revealed on Monday that he was being fitted for a helmet in Philadelphia and about to sign a contract with the Eagles when the Vikings came calling.
Barr said he told Eagles General Manager Howie Roseman “plot twist, I’m actually about to head out. Thanks for everything.’”
“It just made sense at the time, and it still does,” said Barr, who hasn’t played since 2023. “I’m a Viking. I feel that in my heart, in my core.”
Source: STRIB
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