“It’s Dead”
January 29th, 2019
Former Bucs safety Mark Barron.
It just blows Joe’s mind what a horrible talent evaluator former Bucs inept coach Lovie Smith was.
One only needs to look at the players he ran off when he took over the Bucs football operations and it is mind-blowing. So many guys Lovie got rid of went on to have success for other teams, and yes, play in Super Bowls.
One of the most glaring examples is former Bucs safety Mark Barron. To be fair, Barron, who was damn strong against the run, struggled against the pass. Lovie had him shipped out to St. Louis midway through the 2014 season for a fourth-round and a sixth-round pick.
It was in St. Louis that then-Rams coach Jeff Fisher (if you can imagine) determined that Barron was an NFL linebacker. That started Barron’s quick rise to starter where he has been a fixture for the Rams’ defense since.
So last night at “Super Bowl Opening Night” Joe asked Barron if he still harbored any ill will over Lovie giving up on him?
“That s(p)it is in the past,” Barron said with a smile and a dismissive wave of his hand. “That’s in the past, I don’t even think about that. It was [there] for sure but it’s something I don’t even care to talk about. That’s history. It’s dead. I’m playing in a Super Bowl.”
That’s all that needs to be said. One of many guys Lovie, for reasons not quite clear, either didn’t see, couldn’t see or didn’t want to see who could have helped the Bucs but they weren’t good enough for Lovie.
So Barron is getting the last laugh. He’s in a Super Bowl this weekend while Lovie is in the midst of fully destroying a once proud Big Ten program.
January 29th, 2019 at 10:07 am
Only bucs media such as joe cares and that’s for sure. Dude went on and had a better career where he is and didn’t even like the style of this team so why would he care if leaving put him in a better situation. I would have been dismissive too. At least we got a 4th and a 6th which is decent for a guy who couldn’t cover we would not be better off with him as a safety and not spot for him at outside linebacker it was taken
January 29th, 2019 at 10:07 am
Loser Lovie was so incompetent, that it was amazing that he could even find his way to one buc each afternoon!!!!!!!!!!! The buffoon ran this franchise into the ground!!!!! and that was saying something after he took over from talk show dominik!!!!!!!!!!! and just remember sheep!!!!!! those two horrible years with incompetent lovie had the softest schedules the Bucs have had in more than a decade!!!!!!!!!! And yet loser incompetent lovie’s defense still averaged one point higher than coach mike smith’s defense!!!!!!!!! loser lovie was easily the worst head coach in Buc’s history!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Why was lovie fired on a Wednesday??? Because that is when they pick up the trash!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Go Bucs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
January 29th, 2019 at 10:16 am
Not there yet Says:
“Only bucs media such as joe cares and that’s for sure.
I would have been dismissive too.”
######################
Thankfully no one was asking you.
Speak for yourself.
January 29th, 2019 at 10:24 am
Realist….butnI thought it was lack of talent???
January 29th, 2019 at 10:29 am
Why pick him if ya can’t use him? Typical Bucs Life
January 29th, 2019 at 10:32 am
Buc realist is such a hypocrite
Blames coaching for everything when it was Lovie
But blames players for everything when it was Mike Smith coaching
Have some integrity man
January 29th, 2019 at 10:32 am
Not there yet — I mean I care lol. This is a huge reason why we still suck. It isn’t just Barron. Look how many guys Lovie tossed to the side that continued starting and some even went to pro bowls! Think of all the picks and cap capital we needed to use to fix Lovie Smith’s self-inflicted wounds. A lot of fans here are talking about the sorry state of our O-Line. Many here criticize our current LT Smith and our RG. Those two immediate positions are LOVIE SMITH HOLES. Donald Penn has gone on to not only start but to earn a pro bowl along with Jeremy Zuttah… The list of mistakes on talent evaluation are mind-blowing. It is one thing to cut a trouble maker but it is another thing entirely to cut key pieces to the squad.
Lovie was our worst coaching choice of the decade in my opinion.
January 29th, 2019 at 10:33 am
lol….
we needed barron to be a safety not a LB!!!!…lol….
lets talk about the former HC who was just fired after going 5-11 back to back years…..
lets talk about the former HC that cant see that benenoch may be better suited for RT vs RG…..
lets talk about the former HC failing to see that spence maybe better suited for an OLB vs DE….
lets talk about the former HC failing to develop winston…..
dirk has set this team back further than any other former HC….he’s had more talent…..
obviously the bucs have 2 dead horses in front of OBP…..why continue to bet the “brown” one joe?……
#REALISTKNOWSNOTHING!!!!!….GO BUCS!!!!!
January 29th, 2019 at 10:34 am
I laugh to myself over the fact that I hated the Barron pick when it was made. And then Schiano was fired I was hoping the Bucs would hire Jeff Fisher but then they hire Lovie who ships Barron to Fisher who makes him viable. What a twist of fate.
January 29th, 2019 at 10:34 am
You can literally replace every word “Lovie” with “Mike Smith” in realists post and it would still make sense LOL
January 29th, 2019 at 10:36 am
Lovie was not a good fit for Tampa Bay. Man I yearn for those Monte Kiffin days. I wonder how things might have been if we had asked Monte to be the head coach at the time?
January 29th, 2019 at 10:37 am
Jason Licht is not without blame during these past 5 years he has been signing off on all of these moves and then bringing in slugs to replace them. Licht can tell the joes it was all lovie and koetter but people with character own up to their mess ups and being responsible for this losing franchise and licht has been in charge for a worse record than the rock star
January 29th, 2019 at 10:43 am
Players move on, fans and media stay stuck on where the player is playing now, yeah we can say dang, we could’ve still usss that played, but unless that player is playing against their former team (DJax v. the Eagles (chip Kelly), Bret Fabre v. the Pack, or Durante Culpepper v. the fins) they likely could care less, most players carry a chip to just stay in the league, it’s simple as that.
January 29th, 2019 at 10:43 am
Oh yeah, Matt Bryant against the Bucs
January 29th, 2019 at 10:45 am
Barron is a good player and Lovie had no clue and couldn’t use him properly. But at the end of the day… dom had no business taking him in the 1st round,especially in the top 10. The next 4 postion picks were Kuechly, gilmore, dontari poe and fletcher coxand the next safety off the board was harrison smith … thanks dom and lovie.
January 29th, 2019 at 10:51 am
folks act like lovie is the only HC in NFL history to get rid of players and they went on to have success elsewhere…..it happens every year all over the NFL…..
malcolm jenkins for philly…..didnt sean payton ship him outta town….didnt he give up on him…..wasnt it the philly’s staff who made him a S instead of a CB…..but i guess sean payton cant evaluate talent either….
hell the jags shipped dante fowler outta town….isnt he producing with his new team….
its called change of scenery…..it happens every year….lol…sometimes thats all a player needs to get over the hump….
#REALISTKNOWSNOTHING!!!!!….GO BUCS!!!!!
January 29th, 2019 at 10:58 am
Lovie Smith is tragic in every sense of the word, this season at Illinois he presided over the historic 63 to 0 blowout loss to Iowa, how that school’s AD who hired Lovie still has his job is beyond me…..he gave Lovie a contract that was so big, that he can’t afford to fire him!!! LOL
January 29th, 2019 at 11:02 am
Miken
To be fair, Barron was considered a consensus top 10 pick but I do agree that Lovie and Dom had no ideal that Barron would physically out grow the SS position and seemingly didn’t have the foresight to try him at LB. With the pressure from the media and a large segment of angry fans that were criticizing Barron’s play, Dom moved him for 2 draft picks. Coach Fisher needed a LB.
January 29th, 2019 at 11:10 am
For the first time in Bucs ENTIRE HISTORY we have a coaching staff that will build a system around what our players can do best instead of forcing players to fit in their stubborn system
That is called competence
January 29th, 2019 at 11:15 am
Yeah its odd that Lovie didn’t consider trying Barron at LB considering his system uses quicker, smaller LB’s.
January 29th, 2019 at 11:17 am
Does Tampa have more ex-players in the Super Bowl that all other teams?
January 29th, 2019 at 11:17 am
Well, technically, Lovie was right, he wasn’t a good safety. He just never saw him as a LB.
January 29th, 2019 at 11:22 am
That’s funny I recall one of the Joe’s continuously saying Barron was garbage and was happy when he got traded but wtfdik except EVERYTHING!!! Lmao
January 29th, 2019 at 11:34 am
I’m no Lovie fan but why are we blaming him for Dominik drafting a 2 down LB in the top 10 when Dominik stated he was drafted to cover the dominant TE’s in our division…
Another bad Dominik draft pick who the Rams saved by moving him to another position
January 29th, 2019 at 11:42 am
Must we continue to covet other team’s players even if they were once ours……and wasn’t it Mark Dominick who got rid of Barron, Bennett & Blount & Bryant?…….Did he have problem with names ending with B?……
January 29th, 2019 at 11:47 am
Realist is right when it comes to Lovie. Worst Bucs coach ever. He cant even get his college team above .500. Dirk wasnt much better but out of the two, its an easy choice.
January 29th, 2019 at 12:10 pm
Joe everyone gets a laugh on the Glazers.
1st, 2nd, 23rd or last laugh.
Even the water boy snickers at the way the Bucs are run.
Fortunately the Glazers only care about bottom line $
and obviously that has been good to them.
January 29th, 2019 at 12:11 pm
Joe ..makes excuses for Licht being the bucs worst gm but blames the coaches..
January 29th, 2019 at 12:16 pm
Amazing the abject dysfunction that’s allowed to flourish in Tampa.
The media (other than JBF) has had a BS agenda that doesn’t
help the teams cause. The fire Schiano campaign was sad at best.
Now Schiano has the holy grail of NFL jobs as Belicheks DC….a
superhighway to a real HC job with real owners.
The media frequently judges Bucs employees by their availability
and demeanor in interviews more than the W/L record.
Again,, the soccer brats could care less…wake them up when the
check arrives
January 29th, 2019 at 12:34 pm
ben, it would be helpful if you could occasionally form a full sentence or thought.
January 29th, 2019 at 12:51 pm
Joe, did Lovie steal your girlfriend away?
January 29th, 2019 at 12:52 pm
@joe who did the great jason licht draft with those 4th amd 6th round picks? just …asking for a friend 😂 lol
January 29th, 2019 at 12:57 pm
I remember a lot of us here wanted him moved to LB. Never happened here.
January 29th, 2019 at 1:01 pm
WTF?
Trading M. Barron was not the mistake. Drafting him in the first place was.
The Bucs drafted Barron at #7 to play safety when players like Luke Kuechly, Melvin Ingram and Fletcher Cox were on the board.
That 2012 draft was loaded with tons of studs and somehow the Bucs managed to draft a player who couldn’t play in their scheme.
Then the Bucs cut Darrelle Revis the year after they gave away a No.1 pick for him (that No.1 pick could have been used for Sheldon Richardson or Xavier Rhodes or DeAndre Hopkins).
They compounded the mistake by drafting an RB in Doug Martin
Mark Barron isn’t the reason the Bucs sucked this year.
How about passing on Derwin James in the draft and starting the year with Chris Freaking Conte at safety.
How about drafting Ronald Jones to be RB before discovering he’s not ready.
The problem with the Bucs has been poor drafting and really poor valuing of draft picks.
I don’t have to mention trading up for Agauy-No.
And yes I’m still salty about giving two No.1’s for Keyshawn Johnson and the boatload for Jon Gruden.
January 29th, 2019 at 1:10 pm
Joe,
I think it’s rather selfish and obnoxious of you to damper these guys experience by reminding them of this miserable franchise. I think it’s terrible journalism and a non story. Shame on you and your staff’s redundant clickbait nonsense.
Your website has made me begin to really loathe this team even more. You jump on every bandwagon, report and create non news, cause drama, and think that you are the all powerful center of the universe. Interjecting misery into these guys Super Bowl week says it all. New England= title town, Tampa Bay = Loserville, sideshow, circus
JoeBucsfan= Sub par paparazzi,
TMZ of dysfunction junction- yuckaneer laughing stock, disgrace.
January 29th, 2019 at 1:18 pm
Way to go Joe 😂
January 29th, 2019 at 1:27 pm
Lovie. Trash since day one and the rubes still defend this sack of trash
January 29th, 2019 at 1:34 pm
Mike:
Joe owns and operates a Bucs-specific website targeted for a Bucs fan audience. What else is Joe supposed to ask players in the Super Bowl who have direct connections to the Bucs, what bait to use to catch snook?
And the only way to obtain any insight into the Bucs and why they have been such a wretched franchise that is not rubber-stamped first by the Bucs is to ask about their days with the Bucs.
Sorry if this isn’t for you. Joe has zero interest in writing the 800th story about Gronk being a doofus or Tom Brady being a third-day pick.
As with every story on JoeBucsFan, if you don’t wish to read a story, you do not have to click on it.
January 29th, 2019 at 1:42 pm
Lol upset about trading mark Barron like that set our franchise back you gotta be joking.
January 29th, 2019 at 1:47 pm
Joe, I’d rather know the actual detailed truth behind the Noah Spence debacle, or who was in this supposed locker room fight. You are part of a sparse media on the ground and the community is getting a smokescreen from the team. I feel like the media is either not digging hard or persistent enough or hiding things to protect the team, at their direction or under fear of them. I heard journalists on this site allude to that they know more inside info about such situations that they are not releasing. This baffles and annoys me as a fan.
January 29th, 2019 at 1:49 pm
Mike:
Joe knows of some things that will eventually get out. Not “hiding” anything but have been told things in the past in confidence and Joe’s not going to betray that confidence to a source.
January 29th, 2019 at 1:54 pm
Jaguars were saying Spence was a potential 20 sack guy after joint practices. So what happened? Coach incompetence, a pissing match? Injury, mental meltdown? I would like a proper analysis.
I am forced to hypothesize- they told the guy he wasn’t good enough as is, tried to make him something he wasn’t at his detriment- he had an amazing physical transformation that he worked his ass off for- all for not- maybe couldn’t move in his new body- too much change too quickly- Buckner couldn’t handle his personality?
I’m in the dark here. Please help with these types of questions and I’ll gladly keep my mouth shut. I apologize for the insulting prior tone, but I get frustrated.
January 29th, 2019 at 2:00 pm
I’d also like to know more about the release of Freemans medical records and how that was swept under the rug by team, coaching staff and nfl. Perhaps you addressed this, I wasn’t reading my your site at the time. Don’t really understand Freeman’s fall from grace. I did see that he was not there mentally.
January 29th, 2019 at 2:05 pm
Good for you Mark Baron. It was like he sayin, to hell with that BS. I’m in the Superbowl and Bucs sittin home watchin. Great comments Mr. Baron!
January 29th, 2019 at 2:05 pm
Dang Mike, whine much? Jeez.
January 29th, 2019 at 2:31 pm
The problem with Lovie was compounded when they hired Mike Smith to run the exact same f***ing defense!!!!!
Dirk really had his head up his ass on that one. Worst HC in franchise history.
January 29th, 2019 at 2:59 pm
Mike Says:
“………obnoxious of you to damper these guys experience…”
##############
Hilariously bad usage of the English Language. — When you are going to run a bunch of garbage out there like that, Mike……… you might want to try to sound intelligent.
January 29th, 2019 at 3:26 pm
Big Mack-
I think I actually need some
Wine
January 29th, 2019 at 3:28 pm
Bucs fire- please enlighten me with a grammar lesson. always hoping to improve.
January 29th, 2019 at 3:28 pm
The articles make me feel so sorry for Joe. It’s like Joe’s this ex-girlfriend that goes around stalking ex’s and tries to rekindle the love but gets shot down time and time again… why torture yourself Joe?
January 29th, 2019 at 3:44 pm
To be accurate, Backstabbin’ Jason Licht had him shipped out to St. Louis midway through the 2014 season for a fourth-round and a sixth-round pick. Those picks were used in deals to get Kwon Alexander and Ali Marpet.
It has been one of Backstabbin’ Jason Licht’s better moves during his reign of terror.
January 29th, 2019 at 3:47 pm
To further expand on my last point, Backstabbin’ Jason Licht essentially traded away one starter to gain two starters, one of them became a pro-bowler.
How may Pro Bowls has Barron been selected to?
January 29th, 2019 at 4:47 pm
Lovie was not the worst. People who say that either have bad long term memory or have not been franchise-long fans.
January 29th, 2019 at 5:25 pm
I think we tend to forget that we drafted Barron because T-Jax couldn’t keep his head out of the clouds
January 29th, 2019 at 7:10 pm
Barron is/was a good player but he had no place in Lovie’s scheme. If you can’t fit in Lovie’s scheme, you are useless to Lovie. Who needs to coach or develop players when you have a scheme?
January 29th, 2019 at 8:45 pm
Yeah he was an ok safety and I was disappointed they let him go but let’s be serious this guy wouldn’t have even made the Bucs prior to 08.
January 30th, 2019 at 10:48 am
Lovie is a knockabout tragedy…….quiet on the sidelines, staring into space, trying to channel his mentor Father Dungy, listening to slow jazz in his headphones……clueless