pretty remarkable...no wonder the Tigers couldn't cross midfield :missingte
Alabama -
With the free agent signings of Jerrell Harris and DeQuan Menzie in the off-season all 11 starters on the 2011 defense are currently on NFL rosters
FS Mark Barron - Tampa Bay
[h=1]Gordo: Rams hit the jackpot with Barron[/h]
14 hours ago • By
Jeff Gordon
[h=3]
Jeff Gordon[/h]
jeffgordon@post-dispatch.com
The Rams made a puzzling move before last year’s NFL trade deadline.
General manager Les Snead sent fourth- and sixth-round picks to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for safety Mark Barron.
Skeptics asked many questions about this deal. Why pay a premium for still another safety when the team already had T.J. McDonald and Rodney McLeod?
Why add a safety with middling pass coverage skills to a secondary that struggled to defend deep throws? Why not use those picks to add needed offensive help instead?
One year later that trade looks brilliant. Barron, the seventh pick in the 2012 draft, has become one of the MVPs of an elite NFL defense.
He is a hard-hitting safety-linebacker hybrid who makes plays all over the field. He is a prototype Jeff Fisher defender, a vigorous tackler who hunts footballs and disrupts offenses.
Defensive coordinator Gregg Williams keeps finding new ways to use him, particularly in the absence of weakside linebacker Alec Ogletree.
“To me I’m just playing football,” Barron said after helping lead the Rams to their 27-6 demolition of the 49ers on Sunday at the Edward Jones Dome. “In my mind we’re just playing with three safeties on the field. I just line up in a different area and play it from there. It’s not hard. I just line up and play football.
“As long as I know my responsibilities you can line me up in a lot of different places and I can get the job done.”
A two-play sequence Sunday captured Barron’s essence. First he broke up a deep pass down the left sideline to tight end Vernon Davis, running stride for stride with him.
When the 49ers ran Mike Davis to the right side on the next play, Barron was there, too, knifing into the backfield to dump him for a loss.
“I like to be able to make plays all over the field,” Barron said. “That’s always been pretty much how I like to play the game. I like to be all over the field. With some of the things we’re doing, watch the film, you’ll see me lined up all over the place. That’s just being able to be versatile.”
He didn’t fit into Lovie Smith’s scheme with the Buccaneers, since the “Tampa-2” defense deploys its safeties deep and stresses coverage skills. Barron is best used closer to the line of scrimmage, where he can cream people.
The so-called box safety has fallen out of favor with some coordinators, since many NFL offenses have become pass-happy. But Williams saw Barron as the perfect fit for certain looks he uses to apply pressure.
“I’ve always had a three-safety package,” Williams said after Friday’s practice. “I’ve always had a package where we play a safety like a linebacker, but also have to play him like a safety and sometimes like corner.”
With both McDonald and McLeod performing well this season, Barron was playing about a fourth to a third of the defensive snaps. Despite that limited role he made his share of disruptive plays and earned high praise from Williams.
“I’ve had guys that I’ve had to adapt that package to, to fit them, because we still want to do that three and four safety package at times,” Williams said earlier this season. “With him, it’s almost like playing with another linebacker in there. But, he still does all of the (defensive back) things you want him to do. He’s very, very, very good at what we want. He’s a joy to coach. I really, really, really like the way he plays.”
Williams has compared Barron to two-time Pro Bowl safety Roman Harper, whom he coached in New Orleans, and the late Sean Taylor, who performed brilliantly in Washington.
“There’s some similarities of some of the things I used to do with Sean down and around the line of scrimmage,” Williams said. “I know that that’s somebody that he has looked at, too, and there’s kind of a smile on my face when he and I talk about Sean Taylor.”
When Ogletree suffered a broken ankle against the Arizona Cardinals last month, his injury created a huge defensive void. Ogletree was playing at a Pro Bowl level, perhaps even an All-Pro level.
He was everywhere, harassing quarterbacks, blowing up running plays and swatting down passes in coverage. He was learning to embrace the cerebral side of the game and harness his vast potential.
His injury raised the profile of outside linebacker Akeem Ayers. But the big story has been Barron’s graduation to an every-down role. He plays big enough to stuff the run and runs well enough to cover tight ends.
“I love it. I just want to be on the field,” Barron said Thursday. “That’s what I am used to. Before I got here I was a starter in this league. I’m used to being on the field every snap. That’s what I always want to be. When I got here I just had to make some adjustments and take advantage of the opportunities that I did have when I was on the field.”
So he is safety or a linebacker?
“I’m both,” Barron said. “I’m everything behind the D-line. I’m having fun with it. I just like playing football. I like being on the field. So, I’m good.”
Actually, he is very, very good — and so is the Rams defense. Barron’s aggression has rubbed off on his teammates. They are flying around and punishing their foes.
“Guys are out there having fun, making plays and bringing their energy,” he said. “It’s a momentum thing and it builds confidence too.”
His quiet leadership has helped the unit mature. This defense is playing with more discipline, too.
As a turned out, the Rams got much, much more for those fourth- and sixth-round draft picks than many of us ever imagined.
