[tps_title]10. Barry Minter, LB, 1993[/tps_title]
Is it weird to put a guy on here that never played a down for the Cowboys? Maybe, but Barry Minter had a weird start to his NFL career.
Drafted by the Cowboys in 1993, Minter was traded during the preseason to the Bears. Earlier that year, Dave Wannstedt had left his Defensive Coordinator position with Dallas to become Chicago’s head coach.
Coming off a Super Bowl victory together, it is believed that Jimmy Johnson sent the player to Wanndstedt as a friendly gesture. The players that Chicago sent Dallas in exchange were all waived shortly after.
Minter’s career validated why Jimmy drafted him. After a couple of seasons in a rotation role, Barry became Chicago’s starting middle linebacker in 1996 and led the team in tackles for four-straight seasons.
Barry’s time with the Bears came to a sudden end when he suffered a back injury early in the 2000 season. Rookie Brian Urlacher took over as starter and started his Hall of Fame career.
Minter was cut the following offseason for salary cap reasons. He signed with Cleveland but was release after just one game.
So no, Barry Minter really never did anything for the Dallas Cowboys. But he was a 6th-round pick who turned into another team’s leading tackler for many seasons; another testament to the Cowboys’ talent evaluating in the 90s.
Check your stats on all time Cowboys sack leaders. Harvey Martin has around 115 career sacks, much more than Andrie. Martin has always been getting the screws when it comes to all time greats.
You’re absolutely right, Bob. But like Andrie, his stats are “unofficial” as well. So I was only making the point of how Andrie compared to the guys whose stats were officially recorded post-1982.
But yeah, Martin definitely is underappreciated as well.