Ramses Barden has an edge to him, and thinks he knows why.
“I am me. … I am Ramses,” he says. “I’m unconcerned with being anybody else. I can only be me. I will only be me.”
Here he is, five years after the Giants selected him in the third round out of Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo, hoping he could be The Next Plaxico Burress or some facsimile, at least in the red zone.
“I was never going to be the next anybody,” Barden says
Of course not. It didn’t mean Barden, 6-foot-6 and 225 pounds, could not see the similarities.
“I admired [Burress]. He was one of my favorite players to watch at the time, being that there were things in his game that I wanted to incorporate and places that I saw his success might mirror my own,” Barden says.
Barden has caught 29 NFL passes, for 394 yards, and his next NFL touchdown will be his first NFL touchdown, which means the Giants are still waiting for him to be The First Ramses Barden.
He had that one magical Week 3 night against the Panthers (nine receptions for 138 yards) last season.
“I had a ball,” Barden says. “Whenever you’re playing and your team’s winning and I’m able to contribute to that success, it’s a great feeling. And I also have the confidence to know that I could do that any given Sunday.”
Except there hasn’t been another any given Sunday anywhere close to that.
But ask Barden, 27 now, if the best is yet to come for him, and he says, “Absolutely.”
His vision for himself?
“All Pro,” Barden says.
That will be problematic with Hakeem Nicks, Victor Cruz, Rueben Randle and Louis Murphy ahead of him on the depth chart. Is there room for Ramses Barden?
“That’s not my decision,” he says. “I know I’m going to make room for myself wherever I’m at. I carve out my own niche. I’m confident that I’ll be here. I plan on being here. I am here. I’m concerned about — excuse me, not even concerned — I’m focused on today.”
The last thing he’ll focus on is what might happen tomorrow.
“Fear and worry is concern with the future, what’s going to happen,” Barden says. “There’s nothing that I’m scared of in my life, period. Whether it’s football or life or walking across the street, I’m completely grounded in this present moment.”
Sometimes you don’t get opportunity. Sometimes it’s a case of not making your own opportunities. Only a week after his breakout game at Carolina, he suffered a concussion. He caught two passes the rest of the year.
“I had a concussion the following week. I didn’t play the following week, and in such a competitive room, you miss a couple of days of practice, things happen, and I understand that,” Barden says. “I have no regrets. That final series in the Eagles game, the two-minute drive, I hit my head twice. I got hit, then I hit it on the ground.”
Asked if it has been frustrating for him, Barden says: “The same way I have no fear, I have no frustration. I wouldn’t waste time concerning myself with things that don’t serve me, or they’re out of my control.”
But when the 2012 season ended, Barden figured it was time for a fresh start elsewhere. He wound up settling for a one-year, $780,000 free-agent deal with the Giants.
“This is home,” he says. “This is where I wanted to be originally, and I got the opportunity to come back, I came back.”
Ask Barden how he would sum up his Giants career to date, and he tells you: “Oh, I wouldn’t sum it up. I’m in it. I’m in the middle of it.”
Ask Barden next how he would evaluate his first four years, and he tells you: “Oh, I don’t need to evaluate anything. Evaluation is another product of completion. I’m in the midst of working hard and preparing myself to contribute to my team’s winning.”
A big game tomorrow night against the Colts would nevertheless be timely for him.
“[Barden is] a bigger body, so it’s harder to get around him on the shorter, quicker routes,” Giants cornerback Jayron Hosley says. “He’s not one of those down-the-field threat guys, but on a fade ball he can be a problem. I used to call him Keyshawn [Johnson] last year.”
Giants safety Stevie Brown says: “His red-zone moves have gotten real well this camp. His slant has gotten real well. He’s able to get corners leaning, and then stab ’em with his outside hand and bring his arm through or just opening up enough space for anybody to put the ball in there.”
Barden is told he seems mature beyond his years.
“My eyes are always open,” he says, and smiles. “All of ’em.”
He is reminded he only has two of ’em.
Still smiling, he responds, “You think so, huh?”