Jimmy Graham, Meet Mark Barron
June 21st, 2012
- A telling image that hopefully Bucs fans won’t have to see anymore
NBC Sports Network guru Shaun King, one of three quarterbacks to lead the Buccaneers to an NFC Championship game, joined PFT Live yesterday and without hesitation proclaimed that the Saints Jimmy Graham is the best tight end in football.
So what, you say?
Well, the presence of Graham and others like him is a serious step in the evolution of the NFL and a big part of the reason the Bucs drafted Mark Barron in the first round of the 2012 draft, so says former NFL Scout and FOX Sports analyst Chris Landry.
Landry gave a fine Xs and Os explanation as he joined the dean of Tampa Bay sports radio, Steve Duemig, on WDAE-AM Friday.
“When you’ve got guys that are big enough and athletic enough, what you want to able to do is to cover guys inside cover the slot. Now what has changed, and what makes Mark Barron so valuable, and why they coveted him even more than Mo Claiborne, the reason is look where the league has gone in the past couple of years even: the big athletic tight ends. Because what has happened is while people have gone to the spread formation, defenses have come out and said we’re going to get more of these slot, these smaller cover corner guys into the slot to cover those two-way goes,” Landry said.
“Well, offenses know have found these [Rob] Gronkowski types that can run, Jimmy Graham types that can run but also have size. So how do you combat that? Well, if you can find a rare guy like a Mark Barron, who’s got size and athletic ability, that’s how you have to be able to cover those tight ends now. Becuase the real athletic corners are not big enough to match up against those guys. And so it is a game of catch-up with what the other side is doing, and that’s exactly why teams are trying to make that move.
“Now Mark Barron guys are very, very rare, which is why he was so coveted by a few teams and mainly the Bucs, because what division do they play in? Who do they have to cover in that division? Some very good tight ends. That becomes a factor when you have a lot of Y-Flex, the tight end being flexed out and being your inside reciever. That becomes a mismatch for your third and fourth corners in most cases, so your safeties have to be guys that can cover and be physical enough to handle those big guys.”
Joe will like to take a short time out to give thanks that Barron has replaced serial loafer Sean Jones in the Bucs secondary. To the best of Joe’s knowledge, Jones remains unemployed.
Regardless, the Graham-Barron matchup this season should be one of the most itriguing of the season for the Bucs’ defense. It’ll also be damn interesting to see how the Bucs handle Tony Gonzalez this season.
June 21st, 2012 at 11:28 am
Completely agree with this article Joe. Sean Jones was such a scrub against the run and pass. Guys like Graham, Olsen, and Gonzo are match up nightmares for just about anyone. Grabbing a stud like Barron who can keep up, but also knock out anyone in his zone does seem like a good idea especially in our pass happy division.
Just watch how much better Talib is knowing he has help over the top. I really think Barron has the instincts and every down ability to be spoke of in the Eric Berry, Adrian Wilson, and one of the best safety prospects since Sean Taylor. Those are huge shoes to fill, but I like our chances with the Red Barron!
June 21st, 2012 at 11:31 am
Serial loafer lmao, good one.
June 21st, 2012 at 12:26 pm
Mark b is gonna be a stud. One of the main reasons why I love the pick is because I neVer have to see Sean jones wear a bucks jersey on the field again. Probably never even another nfl jersey again after all 32 teams saw how much he blew last year. Some within the front office even questioning if he wasn’t only loafing but if he was blowing the game on purpose. Idk maybe he just sucked that bad. I was saying he was a garbage can last year when Raheem was hyping him up like he was good but just thank god Barron is hear to. Show us what a real safety looks like again.
June 21st, 2012 at 2:36 pm
There is a lot of hype surrounding Barron. I hope it is all true. We could use the type of guy the media is presenting him as.
June 21st, 2012 at 2:52 pm
Laughed at “serial loafer.”
I believe I saw somewhere on twitter that Jones had signed with Detroit? Pretty sure he’s there.
June 21st, 2012 at 3:23 pm
Lion, I saw that and had to laugh too.
June 21st, 2012 at 3:27 pm
Awe man that suck because we do not play the Lions this year. Vincent Jackson would of had at least 2 touchdowns on him.
June 21st, 2012 at 7:21 pm
Serial loafer Jones that was a good one he was just out there walking around glad he is not in a buc uni Go bucs!!!!
June 22nd, 2012 at 9:06 am
I am looking forward to the Red Barron flying around and hitting people in the mouth.
So glad we didn’t spend our pick on Mo Claibourne. He has “prima donna” written on his forehead.
I hope Barron can matchup well with the TEs in the NFC South.
@ Joe,
Sean Jones is a Serial Loafer- lol and amen. I am glad that Schiano came to town and whipped out a can of “scrub be gone”.
June 22nd, 2012 at 9:54 am
How Shawn King gets air time and why does his opinion hold weight??? He sucked as a NFL player and he sucks in media. I don’t get it.