Meet Mark Barron: Greg William’s Defensive Weapon

With the seventh overall pick of the 2012 draft, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers selected Mark Barron, the hard-hitting safety out of Alabama. However, Barron never lived up to his lofty expectations in western Florida. Despite being a sure tackler in college, he missed several tackles as the team’s starting strong safety. He only recorded 3 interceptions through three years in Tampa, even though he was very good in pass coverage at Tuscaloosa.

"“Boy, is this a solid pick. I love [Mark Barron] because his floor and ceiling are the same thing. His ceiling is to be a Pro Bowl safety; his floor is to be a Pro Bowl safety. That’s how good this young man is. This is going to be a good football team next year.”–Mike Mayock, NFL Network Analyst"

If there was one positive in Barron’s tenure with the Buccaneers, it was the fact that he racked up a decent amount of tackles if he wasn’t missing them. He compiled 88 total tackles in his first two seasons, and 49 in his last seven games as a Buc.

Via St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Barron admitted that he wasn’t a good fit in Love Smith’s Cover 2-based defensive scheme. “It is passive,” Barron said back in 2014. “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.”

This makes sense, as the strong safety in a Cover 2 defensive scheme generally sits back in a deep zone to react to the pass or the run. Barron needed to find a much more aggressive system that allowed him to be in the box in order to pursue running backs from a linebacker angle or blitz the quarterback more effectively. Barron’s wish was granted when the Buccaneers traded him away to the St. Louis Rams in 2014 for fourth and sixth round picks. In St. Louis, he would be joining an already dangerous 4-3 defense that likes to get in the backfield.

Oct 25, 2015; St. Louis, MO, USA; St. Louis Rams strong safety Mark Barron (26) tackles Cleveland Browns running back Duke Johnson (29) during the first half at the Edward Jones Dome. Mandatory Credit: Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports

With safeties Rodney McLeod and TJ McDonald already entrenched as solid starters in the secondary, it became obvious that the Rams did not plan to use Barron as a typical strong safety despite his lofty draft status. When Mark Barron put on his horns of the Rams, he was no longer a safety to new defensive coordinator Greg Williams; he became what I call a “defensive weapon”.

By “defensive weapon”, I mean that Mark Barron is the type of player that can line up in multiple places on the defense in sub-packages to add another hard-hitting element to the defensive team. This is similar to the idea of the “offensive weapon” (e.g. WR Tavon Austin of the Rams, who lines up almost everywhere on the offense except for the offensive line to get as many touches as possible), except this player is on the defense side of the ball. Obviously.

Oct 11, 2015; Green Bay, WI, USA; St. Louis Rams safety Mark Barron (26) during the game against the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field. Green Bay won 24-10. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports

Since joining the Rams, Mark Barron has found himself lining up in the box often before the snap, which is exactly what he wanted. Standing at 6’2 and weighing 213 pounds, Mark Barron is not big enough to be an every-down linebacker. Luckily, he doesn’t have to. James Laurinaitis is one of the most consistent middle linebackers in the league and Alec Ogletree is a rising star at the weak-side linebacker position. Even strong-side linebacker Akeem Ayers has been playing well so far in his first season with the Rams. With such a solid linebacker group, Barron would only be asked to substitute linebackers occasionally.

However, that all changed when Alec Ogletree went down with a serious injury against the Arizona Cardinals back in Week 4. Ogletree was playing as well as any other linebacker in the league through four games. He had 42 total tackles and 2 sacks before his injury, which will sideline him for several weeks. However, head coach Jeff Fisher held the strong belief that a combination of Mark Barron and Akeem Ayers could effectively fill the void left by Ogletree.

Here’s a fun fact: according to Scout.com, Mark Barron was a five star weak-side linebacker when he played high school football for St. Paul’s Episcopal. Hey, isn’t that the position that Alec Ogletree played?

It’s been several years since he’s sported his letterman around campus, but it does show that Barron was originally a run-stopping linebacker rather than a pass-covering safety. Instinctively, he wants to knock the hell out of the opposing player. And that’s just how Greg Williams has used him so far this season. In fifteen games with the Rams, Barron has 62 total tackles and 4 sacks. He only had 2 sacks in thirty seven games with the Buccaneers.

In Week 7 against the Cleveland Browns, Mark Barron lead the Rams recorded 16 total tackles. This was an absolutely impressive performance that was overshadowed by Todd Gurley’s 128 yard, 2 touchdown game. Barron got into the backfield for several tackles for loss. He assisted TJ McDonald on a tackle that knocked the ball out of WR Travis Benjamin’s hands. And on almost every one of his tackles, he hit extremely hard. Sometimes, he even left them dazed and confused.

Overall, this was one of the most dominant performances we have ever seen out of Mark Barron, Greg William’s new shiny defensive weapon… a performance we would like to see become consistent in the future.

This is not exactly the Mark Barron the Buccaneers envisioned when they drafted him seventh overall back in 2012. However, this is exactly the Mark Barron that the Rams need as Alec Ogletree makes his recovery.

We’ll have to wait and see how Mark Barron and the St. Louis Rams (3-3) perform following their 6-24 victory over the Cleveland Browns (2-5) when the San Francisco 49ers (2-5) come to the Edward Jones Dome this Sunday.