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Until recently, you couldn't blame a casual football fan for not having heard of veteran Cleveland Browns tight end Gary Barnidge. After all, the 30-year-old had caught just 44 passes and scored just three touchdowns during his first seven years in the NFL.

But year eight has been a charm for Barnidge, who is finally getting regular starting reps and has already set career highs with 24 catches, 374 yards and three touchdowns.

Statistically, the best three games of Barnidge's career have come in the last three weeks.

Best statistical games of Gary Barnidge's career Game REC YDS TD Week 5, 2015 8 139 1 Week 3, 2015 6 105 1 Week 4, 2015 6 75 1 Week 2, 2014 4 41 0 Week 7, 2009 3 77 0 Week 9, 2009 3 46 0 Pro Football Reference

And now a man who started just 27 games before his 30th birthday ranks second among all NFL tight ends in receiving yardage, just a single yard behind New England Patriots star Rob Gronkowski.

NFL tight end receiving yardage leaders, 2015 Tight end Team Yards 1. Rob Gronkowski Patriots 375 2. Gary Barnidge Browns 374 3. Travis Kelce Chiefs 328 4. Tyler Eifert Bengals 312 5. Jordan Reed Redskins 278 Pro Football Reference

And while those numbers have landed Barnidge on the fantasy radar for the first time in his NFL career, an insane circus touchdown catch last Sunday in Baltimore—which you can see here—is what is turning him into a household name.

"It was a little bit of luck and awareness," Barnidge told Bleacher Report. "It was luck that it bounced off the guy's foot and landed right on my ankle, but then I felt it on my legs so I had to squeeze and close my legs together and get it to my hands as quick as I could. I knew once it got to my hands the ball wasn't going anywhere."

That foot catch has gone viral, and suddenly Barnidge is trending. For the first time, a substantial number of people are searching his name on Google.

Google Trends

"Everybody's been tweeting me about it, asking me about it, talking to me about it," said Barnidge of the aftermath of a catch that helped give Cleveland its first road win over Baltimore since 2007. "And that's cool and everything, but I try not to get caught up in it. I'm trying to just worry about this week now because that's over with."

But this has also given fans and the media a chance to recognize that Barnidge isn't just a damn good football player but also a fascinating member of the NFL fraternity with a lot on the go.

He won't be defined by the catch or football in general

Barnidge isn't just that guy who made a catch with his feet, and he's not just a football player.

He is also a movie critic.

No, not a movie buff. A movie critic. He has his own website and everything. At MovieGamePlan.com—a site hatched by Barnidge and former teammate/fellow film aficionado Dante Rosario—you can read reviews from the eight-year NFL veteran while also taking a look at his favorite films and actors.

Forrest Gump and Tom Hanks get a lot of love, but he says his passion for film actually started with The Goonies when he was a kid.

And while he hasn't been reviewing films on the site of late—something he says will change soon—Barnidge continues to use cinema to form a unique connection with his fans.

Every week during the season, he holds movie trivia on Twitter. And every week, the first 10 fans who provide correct answers to his questions get to join Barnidge and teammates for an all-expenses-paid night out at the movies, complete with a reaction roundtable after the film.

"It was something I started my last year in Carolina and it's just a way of giving back to the fans," said Barnidge. "They come support us in all the games and I just wanted to do something where they don't have to pay to talk to us, something different and something I like to do, too."

Just last week, an 11-year-old girl won and was able to come with her dad. "When I responded to her on Twitter she actually broke down and cried," Barnidge said. "She was so shy, it was awesome. That kind of stuff is what makes it worthwhile."

Another time, a military veteran tagged along and presented Barnidge with the Browns flag he wore underneath his vest while on tour in the Middle East.

But Barnidge isn't just a football player who catches touchdowns with his feet and a movie critic—he's also a world traveler who, along with college teammate Breno Giacomini, co-founded American Football Without Barriers, a nonprofit organization that holds football camps all over the world.

Barnidge has brought AFWB camps to China, Brazil and Turkey the last three years, and there are preliminary plans to go to Egypt in the new year.

"It's a real misconception that people think football isn't popular in countries like that, but it actually is," he said, noting that the number of grassroots teams in China has grown from six to 14 since they left Beijing and Shanghai two years ago. "It's growing tremendously."

The goal is to expand the game's reach while presenting young men overseas with potential scholarship opportunities in the United States, but while Barnidge is traveling, he also hits orphanages in order to leave a larger impression.

Barnidge doesn't know what exactly awaits him when his football career ends, but it's clear he has options in those two fields, and he also says he'd like to return to school to earn a secondary degree in archaeology because "I'm just fascinated with the histories of civilization."

Typical pro athlete.

Why'd it take so long?

Garry Jones/Associated Press

Barnidge is on pace to catch more passes for more yards and touchdowns before Thanksgiving than he had during the first seven years of his career. That's because he spent most of his first five seasons with the Carolina Panthers and the ensuing two seasons with the Browns overshadowed by stars and/or battling to distinguish himself at a crowded tight end position.

It's unfortunate, because he did have a massive 655-yard, seven-touchdown senior season at Louisville, but he was only a fifth-round pick in the 2008 draft, taken behind 10 other tight ends. And because the Panthers drafted Rosario in the fifth round the previous year, as well as another tight end, Jeff King, in the fifth round the offseason before that, it took time for Barnidge to earn reps.

"I figured they were just putting together a stable of tight ends that were gonna all come together," he recalled. "So I really had no expectations coming in."

That's good because he was on the field for just 27 snaps as a rookie, and although he started six games combined in 2009 and 2010, he caught just 12 of the 30 passes thrown his way.

Justin K. Aller/Getty Images

But even with the Panthers bringing in stud tight ends Jeremy Shockey and Greg Olsen in 2011, there were high hopes for Barnidge entering his fourth season before an ankle injury shelved him for the entire campaign.

"It was definitely a season I was looking forward to," he recalled. "I felt like I was having a good camp and it was just unfortunate that the day after we broke camp I hurt my ankle."

Behind Olsen again in 2012, he caught just six passes and then followed Panthers offensive coordinator Rob Chudzinski to Cleveland. Sure enough, his first year with the Browns was also tight end Jordan Cameron's breakout season, and Barnidge spent most of 2013 and 2014 in Cameron's shadow.

"It's tough when you're behind a Pro Bowler," he said. "And that's great for those guys, I'm happy for them—I have no issue with that whatsoever. It's just that you've gotta wait for your time. That's all it is, there's nothing you can do about it but be happy and help the guys out."

Barnidge did have some chances when Cameron missed time with head and shoulder injuries, and he delivered by hauling in all 13 of the catchable passes thrown his way in 2014.

"When Jordan got hurt last year I knew I had to show what I could do," he said. "I think Jim Dray and I did a good job of holding it down when he was out and I'm fortunate that the Browns believed in me enough this year to stay with the same guys."

Indeed, Cameron departed for Miami in the offseason, leaving Barnidge, Dray and Rob Housler to fill the void in Cleveland.

Highest reception rates among tight ends, 2015 Tight end Targets Catches Rate 1. Jason Witten 37 30 81.1 2. Gary Barnidge 31 24 77.4 3. Richard Rodgers 25 19 76.0 4. Jimmy Graham 28 21 75.0 5. Travis Kelce 34 24 70.6 Min. 25 targets (Pro Football Reference)

So far so good, thanks mainly to Barnidge, who says nothing has changed aside from his playing time.

"Honestly, I've done the same thing I've done every year," he said. "Always prepared, ready to go and when my name is called I'm going to go out there and do what I can to help the team win."

In for a big payday?

Barnidge's timing couldn't be better. He's still in his prime, with plenty of tread on his tires, and he's putting together a career year with a contract that is scheduled to expire after the 2015 season.

"I'll just let that play out," he said of his contract situation. "You can't worry about that stuff, because as soon as you do it becomes a distraction, and you have to worry about your job. I'm not focused on that at all."

For now, he's focused on playing the best football of his life. And maybe a little on Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which premieres in Cleveland and elsewhere in December.

Brad Gagnon has covered the NFL for Bleacher Report since 2012. Advanced stats courtesy of Pro Football Focus.

Follow @Brad_Gagnon