Barry Church

Barry Michael Church (born February 11, 1988) is an American football safety for the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League. He went undrafted in the 2010 NFL Draft.

Early years
He attended Penn Hills High School, recording 80 tackles, 9.0 sacks and four interceptions while playing safety as a senior, that year he also played wide receiver, catching 30 passes for 670 yards and four touchdowns. He was named to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review’s "Terrific 25" team, second-team all-state Class AAAA, first-team Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League-East honors, and played in the Big 33 Football Classic. He was a triple jumper on the track and field team.

Church was a four year starter while at The University of Toledo, finishing with 354 tackles, 26 tackles for loss, 9 interceptions, 18 pass breakups, 6 forced fumbles and 3 blocked kicks. In his first year he was named second-team freshman All-American by The Sporting News and would be selected first-team All-MAC four straight years, becoming the first Toledo and the third Mid-American Conference player ever to achieve that distinction.

As a senior he was second on the team with 98 tackles, including 8.5 tackles for loss, one interception, one forced fumble, 2 pass deflections and 3 blocked kicks. He was one of the semifinalists for the Jim Thorpe Award and also played in the East-West Shrine Game.

Professional career
After going undrafted in the 2010 NFL Draft because of concerns about his speed, he was signed by the Dallas Cowboys as an undrafted free agent. As a rookie he was active for every game except the season opener, finishing fourth on the team with 16 special teams tackles while also contributing 14 tackles on defense. In 2011 he became a key substitute in the defensive packages, until dislocating his right shoulder in the fourteenth game of the season against the New York Giants and being placed on Injured Reserve.

After two seasons of increasing playing time as a hybrid linebacker and safety, in 2012 he won the starting strong safety position a few weeks into training camp. He suffered a season ending torn Achilles injury in the third game of the season against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Up to that point, Church had played 46 of 60 possible defensive snaps, the most by any Cowboys defensive player.

On October 26, Church resigned with the Cowboys to a four-year contract.