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Is Barron a strong safety? Free safety? Stay tuned
• By Jim Thomas
http://www.stltoday.com/sports/foot...cle_88964bfa-0da6-5b37-8658-034b8151f531.html
All in all, the Rams were happy as clams to acquire safety Mark Barron in Tuesday’s trade with Tampa Bay.
“We obviously liked Mark coming into the league,” coach Jeff Fisher said following Wednesday’s practice at Rams Park. “He was an outstanding college player. We thought he had a lot of ability, and whatever the reasons are (for the trade) down there, we had an opportunity to take advantage of getting a good football player.”
As to exactly how the Rams plan to use him, stay tuned. They’re apparently still figuring that out. And if Fisher knows, he’s not telling.
“I’m not going to speculate the roles and things like that,” Fisher said. “We got a good player. I’m gonna spend some time with him, and talk about where and how he fits at some other point.”
At 6-2, 213, Barron has the size of a strong safety and has a hard-hitting style best suited to playing in the box, defending the run and occasionally getting after the quarterback — which actually describes the style of play of the Rams’ current starting strong safety, 6-3, 217-pound T.J. McDonald.
But Barron, in his first interviews with St. Louis reporters, said he’s capable of playing strong or free.
“I feel like I’m an athletic guy,” Barron said. “I can do whatever I’m asked to do. I just like to get involved more. So it’s easy to get involved early in the game when you’re in the box.”
But Barron said he’d have no problem if asked to play free safety, which usually includes more coverage responsibilities and involves playing farther off the line of scrimmage.
“A lot of my career for as long as I’ve been playing I actually played free,” Barron said. “People don’t know that, but for a lot of my career I have.”
He was speaking mainly about his college career at Alabama.
Just a couple of stalls away in the Rams’ locker room, McDonald also said he could play free safety if called upon.
“I can do whatever they tell me to do,” McDonald said. “Once I get out there on the field, I’ve just gotta go make plays wherever I’m at. There’s only one ball on the field and we all gotta get to it. So if I’ve gotta get to it from a little further depth, then I’ve gotta get on my horse.”
Fisher said both McDonald and free safety Rodney McLeod have been playing well this season. But the opportunity to acquire Barron, for fourth- and sixth-round draft picks in 2015, was something the Rams felt they couldn’t pass up.
“He’s a smart, instinctive football player,” Fisher said. “He’ll hit you. He understands angles. Gosh, he was a first-round pick (in 2012) and for whatever reason it didn’t work out or they felt like he didn’t fit in the system.
“We’ll find a way to fit him into our system at some point. I don’t know whether that’s a week or six weeks or next year. But we need depth at the position and we’re banged up a little bit.
“I spoke with him (Tuesday) night after we put the deal together. Obviously he was surprised and shocked but excited about a new start. He’s got a lot of catching up to do. I think he’s going to be, in time, a very good player for us.”
Barron showed up halfway through the Rams’ Wednesday practice, which was reduced to a one-hour walk-through session because the team has so many injured players. (There were 13 players listed on the injury report.)
But Barron could find himself playing this Sunday in San Francisco, be it special teams or on defense, if for no other reason than injuries at the safety position. McLeod didn’t practice Wednesday because of a knee injury suffered Sunday in Kansas City. His status is uncertain for San Francisco at this point. Ditto for Cody Davis, who is going through the concussion protocol this week based on symptoms experienced after a collision against the Chiefs.
When asked if it was realistic to think he could play against the 49ers, Barron said: “Depending on what they ask me to do. I can most definitely play if you just let me go out there and play football like I can. But I don’t know what they want me to do.”
Fisher called the trade a last-minute thing on Tuesday.
“We went right up against the deadline,” Fisher said. “We had about an hour.”
Barron was as surprised as anyone about the trade. He missed the initial phone call from Tampa Bay informing him of the trade, so he learned about it through the media.
“Then I went and called back and I found out that everything was official,” Barron said. “I had no idea that I was even available for a trade. I enjoyed the experience I had in Tampa, but it’s on to new things for me.”
Head-coaching changes often lead to massive personnel changes, and Barron didn’t seem like a fit in the more passive Cover 2-based scheme under new Buccaneers coach Lovie Smith.
“Yeah, it is passive,” Barron said. “That’s kind of the only thing I didn’t like about it a lot of times. I had to sit back and I couldn’t really be as aggressive as I wanted to in that system. So yeah, I would most definitely say that.”
• By Jim Thomas
http://www.stltoday.com/sports/foot...cle_88964bfa-0da6-5b37-8658-034b8151f531.html
All in all, the Rams were happy as clams to acquire safety Mark Barron in Tuesday’s trade with Tampa Bay.
“We obviously liked Mark coming into the league,” coach Jeff Fisher said following Wednesday’s practice at Rams Park. “He was an outstanding college player. We thought he had a lot of ability, and whatever the reasons are (for the trade) down there, we had an opportunity to take advantage of getting a good football player.”
As to exactly how the Rams plan to use him, stay tuned. They’re apparently still figuring that out. And if Fisher knows, he’s not telling.
“I’m not going to speculate the roles and things like that,” Fisher said. “We got a good player. I’m gonna spend some time with him, and talk about where and how he fits at some other point.”
At 6-2, 213, Barron has the size of a strong safety and has a hard-hitting style best suited to playing in the box, defending the run and occasionally getting after the quarterback — which actually describes the style of play of the Rams’ current starting strong safety, 6-3, 217-pound T.J. McDonald.
But Barron, in his first interviews with St. Louis reporters, said he’s capable of playing strong or free.
“I feel like I’m an athletic guy,” Barron said. “I can do whatever I’m asked to do. I just like to get involved more. So it’s easy to get involved early in the game when you’re in the box.”
But Barron said he’d have no problem if asked to play free safety, which usually includes more coverage responsibilities and involves playing farther off the line of scrimmage.
“A lot of my career for as long as I’ve been playing I actually played free,” Barron said. “People don’t know that, but for a lot of my career I have.”
He was speaking mainly about his college career at Alabama.
Just a couple of stalls away in the Rams’ locker room, McDonald also said he could play free safety if called upon.
“I can do whatever they tell me to do,” McDonald said. “Once I get out there on the field, I’ve just gotta go make plays wherever I’m at. There’s only one ball on the field and we all gotta get to it. So if I’ve gotta get to it from a little further depth, then I’ve gotta get on my horse.”
Fisher said both McDonald and free safety Rodney McLeod have been playing well this season. But the opportunity to acquire Barron, for fourth- and sixth-round draft picks in 2015, was something the Rams felt they couldn’t pass up.
“He’s a smart, instinctive football player,” Fisher said. “He’ll hit you. He understands angles. Gosh, he was a first-round pick (in 2012) and for whatever reason it didn’t work out or they felt like he didn’t fit in the system.
“We’ll find a way to fit him into our system at some point. I don’t know whether that’s a week or six weeks or next year. But we need depth at the position and we’re banged up a little bit.
“I spoke with him (Tuesday) night after we put the deal together. Obviously he was surprised and shocked but excited about a new start. He’s got a lot of catching up to do. I think he’s going to be, in time, a very good player for us.”
Barron showed up halfway through the Rams’ Wednesday practice, which was reduced to a one-hour walk-through session because the team has so many injured players. (There were 13 players listed on the injury report.)
But Barron could find himself playing this Sunday in San Francisco, be it special teams or on defense, if for no other reason than injuries at the safety position. McLeod didn’t practice Wednesday because of a knee injury suffered Sunday in Kansas City. His status is uncertain for San Francisco at this point. Ditto for Cody Davis, who is going through the concussion protocol this week based on symptoms experienced after a collision against the Chiefs.
When asked if it was realistic to think he could play against the 49ers, Barron said: “Depending on what they ask me to do. I can most definitely play if you just let me go out there and play football like I can. But I don’t know what they want me to do.”
Fisher called the trade a last-minute thing on Tuesday.
“We went right up against the deadline,” Fisher said. “We had about an hour.”
Barron was as surprised as anyone about the trade. He missed the initial phone call from Tampa Bay informing him of the trade, so he learned about it through the media.
“Then I went and called back and I found out that everything was official,” Barron said. “I had no idea that I was even available for a trade. I enjoyed the experience I had in Tampa, but it’s on to new things for me.”
Head-coaching changes often lead to massive personnel changes, and Barron didn’t seem like a fit in the more passive Cover 2-based scheme under new Buccaneers coach Lovie Smith.
“Yeah, it is passive,” Barron said. “That’s kind of the only thing I didn’t like about it a lot of times. I had to sit back and I couldn’t really be as aggressive as I wanted to in that system. So yeah, I would most definitely say that.”
