After holding down jobs as a carpet cleaner and a dish washer, among other means to an end, T.J. Barnes probably was better able to handle the demise of the XFL than most of its employees.
It was the second professional football league in two years that the former Georgia Tech defensive tackle had played in that failed to make it through its inaugural season. Still, he holds good memories, such as the energetic crowds he played for with the New York Guardians and the fact that the paychecks were consistent, unlike his experience with the Alliance of American Football.
Having been humbled in his dream of playing in the NFL – his purpose for playing in the XFL, which suspended operations in March in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic and filed for bankruptcy earlier this week – Barnes has accepted the newest detour in his life with seeming grace.
“I realize having a positive attitude makes everything better,” Barnes told the AJC. “Vs. being like, Why me?”
At 29, Barnes has been out of Tech since playing his final season for the Yellow Jackets in 2012. He was known for his immense size – he towered at 6-foot-6 and weighed well in excess of 300 pounds – and his gentle demeanor.
“Character-wise, he’s as good as gold,” said former Tech assistant coach Andy McCollum, Barnes’ position coach.
Barnes has continued his pursuit of an NFL career through lean years, long after most of his former Tech teammates had moved on to more stable vocations.
“I’m not done or anything like that,” Barnes said. “I’m just making sure I’m preparing myself for my next chapter.”
A winding path
It has been quite a path, particularly the past three years. And while the pandemic has tossed all aspects of professional football into a sea of uncertainty, Barnes will continue to push forward.
“T.J.’s a fighter, man,” said former Tech defensive lineman KeShun Freeman, the other former Yellow Jacket to play in the XFL. “He’s definitely somebody I look up to.”
Barnes’ life has been a series of turns since his release by the Kansas City Chiefs in June 2017. After playing five games in the 2016 season for the Chiefs, Barnes said he believed that he was impressing coaches and in position for a new contract.
When he was called to a meeting with a member of the front office, he thought it might have had to do with a new deal. He thought about paying off his house and treating himself to a luxury car. Instead, he was told he was being let go.
The move was so unexpected that, Barnes said, when he went to thank assistant coach Britt Reid, he began telling Barnes about his plans for Barnes in that day’s offseason workout.
The release disheartened Barnes and sent him on a path on which he struggled to gain traction.
Over the next year and a half, he worked at a storage unit, had an abbreviated attempt at the CFL, washed dishes at a Chili’s and was a driver for Uber Eats. He tried to get into coaching. He started an IT job at Chick-fil-A but was let go when he failed an exam (that he said he was told was not a big deal). He cleaned carpets for Stanley Steemer. He put on a lot of weight.
In June 2018, he got a call from his agent about an opportunity. The agent mentioned wrestling, and Barnes thought he was talking about arm wrestling, as he had previously competed in an arm-wrestling tournament.
Barnes was on board. When he got a call from a WWE recruiter, Barnes was taken aback.
“This isn’t arm wrestling?” Barnes recalled asking. “I’m like, I don’t know about this.”
A fan of the sport since childhood, Barnes went ahead with it. At the time, though, Barnes weighed in excess of 400 pounds and was in no condition to prove himself. This came at a time after Barnes had adopted a vegan diet.
“My diet was really trashy,” he said. “It was terrible. I had learned the hard way you can work out as hard as you want, but you can’t beat a bad diet.”
‘A total 180’
Ready to give up football, he took a medical exam as part of the NFL retirement process. He weighed 405, about 40 pounds above his listed roster weight, and was warned about the life consequences of carrying that weight. With his first baby on the way, it was a life-turning moment. He wanted to give his child – Zuri, a girl, born that August – a better lifestyle than he had had growing up, he said.
Following the plan in the book “The Clean 20,” Barnes said he lost 60 pounds in two months.
“It was a total 180,” he said.
That led to a roster spot in the AAF, a minor-league startup for which a number of former Jackets played for the Atlanta entry. The league lasted only two months, but it was enough for Barnes to accumulate enough game video to get signed by the Carolina Panthers in April 2019. He wore his carpet-cleaning shirt when he signed, a reminder of all he had gone through to get back to an NFL roster.
In May, he went on Steve Harvey’s talk show to tell the story of his Clean 20 diet, joining the book’s author, Ian Smith.
He was released in June, but he kept pursuing football, and he was drafted into the XFL in October. The Guardians ranked second in the league in scoring defense when operations were suspended.
“Just the chance to play football again was pretty fun,” he said.
Looking ahead
Living in Williamsburg, Va., Barnes is spending his time doting on 20-month-old Zuri, calling her the “light of my life.” He is staying in shape for football and contemplating his next options. Like most athletes, his workout options are limited. He has taken to jogging. He said he can go seven minutes without stopping.
“It’s something that I never thought I’d be able to do, being someone who’s 350 pounds,” he said. “You don’t see us jogging around.”
Besides football, Barnes thinks he might have a future in podcasting. He has his own podcast (“Not 4 The Weak”) and plans to start a sports podcast soon with former Jackets teammates Jamal Golden and Brandon Watts and his brother Blake Henry called “The Legion.” He has his Tech management degree.
Barnes said he thinks about his life’s path frequently that took him from the NFL to washing dishes to a place of uncertainty.
“I’ve been through a lot,” he said, “and I think that’s what’s going to make me really successful in the end game.”
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