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Mark Barron wants to be known as simply the best
By Mark Inabinett
http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2016/03/mark_barron_wants_to_be_known.html
Mark Barron made a lot of tackles for the St. Louis Rams during the 2015 season -- the league says he made 116; the Rams coaches had him down for 135 – and he started for only three-fourths of the year at "whatever."
Barron started all 37 games he played for Tampa Bay after the Buccaneers took him out of Alabama with the seventh choice in the 2012 NFL Draft. But after being traded to the Rams, Barron started twice in his first 13 games with St. Louis.
That changed when St. Louis weakside linebacker Alec Ogletree suffered a broken leg in the fourth game of the 2015 season. To fill the gap, the Rams plugged in Barron, a strong safety.
"I just wanted to be on the field," Barron said in a video interview for the Rams' web site. "I was playing, but I wasn't playing as much as I was used to playing. I just wanted to be on the field. Just put me on the field wherever you want to put me, I'm still going to play the same game I play."
On Monday, Barron's big season paid off when he signed a five-year, $45 million contract to stay with the Rams as they move to Los Angeles. St. Louis plans to keep Barron in his current spot and move Ogletree to middle linebacker in place of James Laurinaitis, who has been released.
When thrust into the role, Barron didn't want to be called a linebacker, so the Rams began listing his position in the game book as weak safety.
"That's just something me being stubborn," Barron said. "Like in my mind, when I came into this league, my goal was to be the best safety in this league. It's kind of hard for me to go away from that. I kind of changed it. Now I just want to be one of the best defensive players in the league. But that's kind of part of the reason I don't like being called that because in my mind what I was working towards was being known as one of the best safeties in this league. ...
"To be honest with you, I couldn't tell you what to call it. I know a lot of people like calling it a hybrid. I don't mind that, the hybrid name. The weakside safety thing, I'm cool with that, too, even though I thought it was kind of funny that they just made up a whole new position to call me. I'm cool with it -- hybrid, weak safety, whatever."
Of the 39 players who recorded at least 100 tackles in the NFL's 2015 regular season, five had football roots in the state of Alabama, including four from the Alabama Crimson Tide and one from the Auburn Tigers.
What Barron would like to be called is the best.
"I want to be known as one of the best at what I do," Barron said. "Regardless of whatever I'm doing, I want to be known as one of the best at it. So I guess I can make it that simple: I want to be known as one of the best."
The former St. Paul's prep star said the safety-to-linebacker shift wasn't difficult.
"I've been playing this game for a long time," Barron said, "and the way I learned the game, I didn't learn it just from a position standpoint. I learned it from a concept standpoint. So when you know concepts, you can play in a lot of different positions."
Of Barron's new contract, $20 million is guaranteed, and it included a $5 million signing bonus.
By Mark Inabinett
http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2016/03/mark_barron_wants_to_be_known.html
Mark Barron made a lot of tackles for the St. Louis Rams during the 2015 season -- the league says he made 116; the Rams coaches had him down for 135 – and he started for only three-fourths of the year at "whatever."
Barron started all 37 games he played for Tampa Bay after the Buccaneers took him out of Alabama with the seventh choice in the 2012 NFL Draft. But after being traded to the Rams, Barron started twice in his first 13 games with St. Louis.
That changed when St. Louis weakside linebacker Alec Ogletree suffered a broken leg in the fourth game of the 2015 season. To fill the gap, the Rams plugged in Barron, a strong safety.
"I just wanted to be on the field," Barron said in a video interview for the Rams' web site. "I was playing, but I wasn't playing as much as I was used to playing. I just wanted to be on the field. Just put me on the field wherever you want to put me, I'm still going to play the same game I play."
On Monday, Barron's big season paid off when he signed a five-year, $45 million contract to stay with the Rams as they move to Los Angeles. St. Louis plans to keep Barron in his current spot and move Ogletree to middle linebacker in place of James Laurinaitis, who has been released.
When thrust into the role, Barron didn't want to be called a linebacker, so the Rams began listing his position in the game book as weak safety.
"That's just something me being stubborn," Barron said. "Like in my mind, when I came into this league, my goal was to be the best safety in this league. It's kind of hard for me to go away from that. I kind of changed it. Now I just want to be one of the best defensive players in the league. But that's kind of part of the reason I don't like being called that because in my mind what I was working towards was being known as one of the best safeties in this league. ...
"To be honest with you, I couldn't tell you what to call it. I know a lot of people like calling it a hybrid. I don't mind that, the hybrid name. The weakside safety thing, I'm cool with that, too, even though I thought it was kind of funny that they just made up a whole new position to call me. I'm cool with it -- hybrid, weak safety, whatever."
Of the 39 players who recorded at least 100 tackles in the NFL's 2015 regular season, five had football roots in the state of Alabama, including four from the Alabama Crimson Tide and one from the Auburn Tigers.
What Barron would like to be called is the best.
"I want to be known as one of the best at what I do," Barron said. "Regardless of whatever I'm doing, I want to be known as one of the best at it. So I guess I can make it that simple: I want to be known as one of the best."
The former St. Paul's prep star said the safety-to-linebacker shift wasn't difficult.
"I've been playing this game for a long time," Barron said, "and the way I learned the game, I didn't learn it just from a position standpoint. I learned it from a concept standpoint. So when you know concepts, you can play in a lot of different positions."
Of Barron's new contract, $20 million is guaranteed, and it included a $5 million signing bonus.
