Matt Barkley

At 34 years old, Matt Barkley has this physical status:

After graduating from high school a semester early, Barkley enrolled in the University of Southern California in January 2009 so he could participate in spring practice with the USC Trojans football team. He would play for the Trojans for the next four seasons, from 2009 to 2012.

With the early departure of the Trojans' previous starting quarterback, Mark Sanchez, for the NFL, and with no clear successor, a three-way quarterback battle emerged during spring practices between Barkley and quarterbacks Aaron Corp and Mitch Mustain, both of whom had held the second quarterback spot at various times throughout the season; the latter had been the starting quarterback at Arkansas for eight games in 2006.

Barkley adapted to the Trojans offense and gave strong performances during spring practices: trying for and making big plays but also throwing several key interceptions. Impressing his coaches, Barkley climbed to the number two spot at the end of Spring behind Corp. Afterward, ESPN NFL Draft analyst Mel Kiper Jr. stated he believed that in "three years Matt Barkley—who will be a true freshman this year—will be the No. 1 pick in the draft."

On August 27, during fall practices, Carroll named Barkley the starter for the 2009 season opener against San Jose State. Barkley is the first true freshman quarterback to ever start an opener for the Trojans, and the first true freshman to start the opener for a preseason top-five team since Rick Leach did it for #3 Michigan in 1975. After a slow first quarter, Barkley finished his college debut 233 yards, throwing 15-for-19 with one touchdown in a 56–3 victory.

Barkley's second game brought his first major test and first road game, against the highly ranked Ohio State Buckeyes. Before a sold-out, raucous crowd at Ohio Stadium, Barkley led a game-winning, 86-yard drive late in the fourth quarter, earning significant praise from the sports media.

Barkley suffered a shoulder bruise in the Ohio State game, and had to sit out the following week's game at Washington. With Aaron Corp at the helm, the Trojans struggled in a major upset loss, falling to the unranked Huskies 16–13 while putting up the lowest number of passing yards for a USC team since Carroll took over the program in 2001. Carroll had Barkley, who wasn't fully recovered from his injury, start the next game against Washington State. Barkley contributed to a 27–6 victory, passing for 247 yards and two touchdowns. He followed this up with 282 passing yards in a 30–3 win over California on October 3. The next week against Notre Dame, he was 19 for 29 with two touchdowns. He followed that up with a 15–25 two touchdown game against Oregon State. Against Stanford he threw three interceptions and only one touchdown. Two weeks later he went one touchdown and one interception in a 28–7 victory over UCLA. The following week, he also, went 1–1 in a 21–17 loss to Arizona. He closed his freshman season by throwing for 350 yards and two touchdowns against Boston College in the 2009 Emerald Bowl.

On September 2, 2010, Barkley led the Trojans to an opening week victory at Hawaii by a score of 49–36. Barkley contributed five passing touchdowns (three to wide receiver Ronald Johnson) on 17-of-23 passing for 257 yards. The win marked a successful debut for new USC head coach Lane Kiffin and the first win under USC's 2010 NCAA probation and sanctions. Both teams amassed over 500 yards of total offense. Barkley said, "I'm just trying to be as perfect as I can be. Last week was pretty close, but that perfect game is kind of a goal and that's no incompletions." Coach Kiffin added, "We'll see if he can continue to do it again. Great quarterbacks put together good games every week." Matt Barkley continued a solid sophomore campaign. With notable performances against Stanford and Cal. Barkley sprained his ankle during a loss to Oregon State and was forced to the sideline for the Notre Dame game. He returned to lead the Trojans to a gutsy 28–14 victory over UCLA.

Barkley began 2011 by setting the USC single-game record for completions with 34 against Minnesota. On October 1, against Arizona, he passed for a USC single-game record for 468 yards. On November 4, he passed for a USC single-game record for touchdowns in a game with six, against the Colorado Buffaloes, one of the two additions to the Pac-12 in its inaugural season; the game was the first against Colorado since 2002. He had previously tied the single-game touchdown record three times, sharing it with Rodney Peete, Carson Palmer, Matt Leinart and Mark Sanchez. On November 26, against the UCLA, he tied the single-game touchdown record again in a 50–0 shutout of the Bruins. On national television, Barkley stated the best moment of the UCLA game was his pass to his cousin Robbie Boyer. Over the 2011 season, Barkley accumulated 39 touchdowns, an all-time Pac-12 record, and helped end the season with a 10–2 record. Barkley had the 6th most votes for the Heisman Trophy. He finished with a 39–7 touchdown-to-interception ratio while completing 69.1% of his passes. He won the 2011 CFPA National Performer of the Year Trophy with his record-breaking season.

On December 22, 2011, at a press conference convened at Heritage Hall, Barkley announced he would return for his senior year with the USC Trojans rather than entering the 2012 NFL Draft. Barkley announced his return to USC in his own unique way by giving Coach Kiffin a homemade ornament for Christmas with a picture of them at the Colorado game, but on the back revealing the text "One more year." Barkley has described his decision to stay at University of Southern California in his senior as "unfinished business", as he wanted to be part of a team that would be aiming for the BCS championship after a two-year postseason ban.

Going into his senior season, Barkley was widely considered a favorite to win the Heisman Trophy. At the beginning of the season, USC was ranked #1 in the preseason poll, but a 21–14 loss to then-#21 Stanford ended USC's potential BCS national championship run. USC then went on to lose five games that year, including a late-season loss to rival UCLA for the first time in six years. Barkley was knocked out of that game by UCLA's Anthony Barr with a shoulder separating hit, thus ending his regular season abruptly. On December 27, 2012, head coach Lane Kiffin announced Barkley wouldn't play in the Sun Bowl because of his shoulder injury, effectively ending his college football career.

Professional career

Despite being projected as a first-round selection for the 2012 NFL Draft by midseason of 2011, Barkley decided to return to USC for his senior season. As early as April 2012, he was projected the No. 1 overall pick for the 2013 NFL Draft. However, one month prior to the draft, Barkley's draft stock had fallen with ESPN draft analysts Mel Kiper Jr. and Todd McShay projecting Barkley to fall out of the first round. Due to his shoulder injury, Barkley did not throw at the NFL Scouting Combine and instead took medical tests on his shoulder.

The Philadelphia Eagles selected Barkley in the fourth round with the 98th overall pick of the 2013 NFL Draft. Going into training camp, it was announced that he would be given a chance to compete for the starting quarterback job, facing off against the two starting quarterbacks from the previous season, Nick Foles and Michael Vick. On October 20, 2013, he saw his first NFL action against the Dallas Cowboys as he came in to relieve Nick Foles, who left early in the fourth quarter due to a head injury. In that game, Barkley completed 11 of his 20 pass attempts for 129 yards and threw three interceptions. Barkley's second game came the following week in relief of Foles (concussion) and Vick (quadriceps) on October 27 versus the New York Giants. Barkley completed 17 of 26 passes for 158 yards and one interception to go along with recording one fumble inside their red zone.

The Eagles traded Barkley to the Arizona Cardinals for a conditional seventh-round pick in the 2016 NFL Draft on September 4, 2015. The terms said that he needed to be on the roster for six games, which were fulfilled on October 17, 2015. On September 3, 2016, Barkley was released by the Cardinals.

Barkley was signed to the Chicago Bears' practice squad on September 4, 2016. He was elevated to the active roster on September 22, 2016.

Following an injury to the Bears' backup quarterback Brian Hoyer against the Green Bay Packers on October 20, Barkley made his first appearance as a member of the Chicago Bears, going 6 of 15 for 81 yards; he threw for zero touchdowns and two interceptions. After Jay Cutler suffered a shoulder injury against the Giants, Barkley started the following week's game against the Tennessee Titans. Barkley completed 28 of 54 passes for 316 yards with three touchdowns, two interceptions, and a 72.8 passer rating, nearly rallying the Bears from a 20-point deficit in the fourth quarter before losing 27–21. Barkley earned his first NFL win the very next week on December 4, a 26–6 win over the San Francisco 49ers at Soldier Field. This was the Bears' third and last victory of the season. He completed 11 for 18 passes for 192 yards, no touchdowns, no interceptions, and a 97.5 passer rating.

On December 18, Barkley completed 30 passes for 362 yards, two touchdowns and three interceptions as the Bears nearly upset the Green Bay Packers, ultimately losing 30–27 on a last-second field goal. It was the most yards by a Bears quarterback in a game against Green Bay in the rivalry's history.

Barkley struggled in the following week's game against the Washington Redskins, a 41–21 loss; although he threw for 323 yards and two touchdown passes, he also threw five interceptions, including on four consecutive drives in the second half. The five interceptions were the most by a Bears quarterback since Cutler threw five in 2009.

In Week 17, Barkley caught a touchdown from wide receiver Cameron Meredith on a trick play; while Barkley was calling at the line of scrimmage, the ball was snapped to running back Jeremy Langford, who handed it off to Meredith before throwing it to a wide-open Barkley for the touchdown. He ended the 2016 season with eight touchdown passes and 14 interceptions. Of his 216 pass attempts, 89 went for a first down (41.2 percent), the second-highest percentage in the NFL behind the Atlanta Falcons' Matt Ryan (44.6).

On March 10, 2017, Barkley signed a two-year contract with the San Francisco 49ers. On September 1, 2017, he was released by the 49ers at the end of the preseason after throwing for just 197 yards with no touchdowns or interceptions. He was beaten out by veteran Brian Hoyer and rookie C. J. Beathard.

On November 13, 2017, Barkley re-signed with the Cardinals due to Drew Stanton possibly missing playing time as a result of a knee sprain. However, Barkley was inactive for the entire season.

On March 17, 2018, Barkley signed a two-year contract with the Cincinnati Bengals. He was placed on injured reserve on September 1, 2018 after suffering a knee injury in the preseason. Barkley was released on September 12, 2018 with an injury settlement.

On October 31, 2018, Barkley was signed by the Buffalo Bills. On November 11, it was announced that he would start for the Bills against the New York Jets over Nathan Peterman with starter Josh Allen injured. Barkley, making his first NFL start in two years, threw for 232 yards and two touchdown passes as Buffalo beat the Jets 41–10, snapping the team's four-game losing streak. On December 21, 2018, Barkley signed a two-year contract extension with the Bills through the 2020 season.

In Week 4 of the 2019 season, Barkley came into the game against the New England Patriots to relieve Josh Allen, who had experienced an in-game head injury. He passed for 127 yards and one interception in the 16–10 loss. He made one other appearance in Week 17 against the New York Jets, where he passed for 232 yards and two interceptions in relief of Allen in the 13–6 loss.

During the 2020 season, Barkley saw action in five regular season games and threw his first touchdown pass since the 2018 season, a 56-yard completion to wide receiver Gabe Davis, during the final game of the season against the Miami Dolphins. Barkley finished the regular season completing 11 of 21 passes for 197 yards, one touchdown, and one interception.

Barkley was signed a two-year contract with the Tennessee Titans on August 5, 2021. He was released on September 1, 2021 and re-signed to the practice squad.

On November 10, 2021, Barkley was signed by the Carolina Panthers off the Titans' practice squad. He was waived on December 28.

On December 29, 2021, Barkley was claimed off waivers by the Atlanta Falcons. He was waived on January 4, 2022 and re-signed to the practice squad. His contract expired when the team's season ended on January 9, 2022.

On March 21, 2022, the Buffalo Bills signed Barkley to a one year contract.

On August 26, 2022, in the Bills' last preseason game against the Carolina Panthers, Barkley served as the team's punter in addition to seeing substantial playing time at quarterback. Barkley punted four times in the game, including a 53-yard punt. He was released on August 30, 2022 and signed to the practice squad the next day.

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