Graham Barton Aces Test
August 15th, 2024
All in a night’s work.
Graham Barton, meet Caleb Williams.
(And Darius Robinson, too.)
With the possible exception of Notre Dame or Alabama, rare is the football program that generates the buzz and eyeballs and glamour as does Big Ten powerhouse USC. And Williams was one of the biggest big men whoever walked on campus playing for Hollywood’s favorite team.
Barton? He’s a quiet center from a proud academic institution/basketball school known more for producing Tim Cook, Sean McManus and Richard Nixon than NFL players.
Robinson went to an SEC bottom dweller known primarily as a feeder system for a dead industry, a journalism school. Way to keep up with the times.
What do the three have in common? They were the only rookies to receive an “A” grade from Chad Reuter of NFL.com.
Reuter watched every worthless game from Week 1 of the preseason and focused on rookies. Reuter really liked what he saw from Barton.
The first-rounder looked the part at center in Saturday’s win despite not playing the position in a game since his freshman year at Duke. Barton stood strong against bullish Bengals big men, widening his stance and resetting his hands when needed. An inside twist late in the first quarter tested his agility, but he later displayed great athleticism by clearing out a blitzing linebacker from the A-gap. Barton’s quickness from his stance helped him make reach blocks and combo to second-level defenders, notably escorting an opponent into the end zone on a first-quarter touchdown run. Bucs running backs are going to make cuts off Barton’s duo and zone blocks regularly this season. He finished a couple of blocks all the way to the ground in the second quarter, showing the sort of nasty streak Bucs fans routinely saw from Ryan Jensen.
Ah, so now we know why the Bucs are so high on Bucky Irving. His jump-cuts were some of the very best in college football last year.
It was great to see Barton play so well in not just his first at-bat wearing an NFL uniform, but as Reuter pointed out, his first game at center in three years.
If Barton does this well while still re-learning the position on the NFL level, imagine what he may be like when he has two or three seasons under his belt?
August 15th, 2024 at 12:42 am
RE: Judon…my take is that the Falcons just gave up a 3rd rounder for a 30+ year old coming off an injury who had been very hot and cold in his career. I, for one, celebrate this move.
August 15th, 2024 at 12:47 am
Thanks Brian, hadn’t looked much into that signing yet but that’s some good context. Yeah he probably helps them a bit and nothing good about that but if our OL can stay healthy now… not to many DLs I will be fearing.
August 15th, 2024 at 1:03 am
I think Judon is pretty awesome.
August 15th, 2024 at 3:13 am
He’s a 270 lb linebacker. Must be an OLB.
August 15th, 2024 at 3:29 am
Missing Jensen the last 2 years has been brutal I think Barton has a big impact his rookie year.
August 15th, 2024 at 3:45 am
I thought we were talking about Barton. I meant to kinda focus on him, but I mostly just watched the gage. From what little I actually witnessed he looked like he is gonna be fine. BTW, Judon for a 3rd round pick??? Meh.
August 15th, 2024 at 5:08 am
Continuing off subject with the rest, I think Atlanta signing Matt Judon COULD BE huge for them. He AVERAGED 14 sacks, 28 QB hits, 14 TFLs & 60 tackles per year for New England in 2021 & 2022 before getting hurt early last season; THAT impresses me.
Can’t for the life of me figure out WHY the Patriots traded him though. They’ve already got the 2nd-most CAP space in the NFL, so money’s probably not the motivation. The rest of their DEs/OLBs are OK to meh, but none stand out performance-wise like Judon did. Just doesn’t make sense, unless his injury has really hampered him & the Falcons are ‘betting on the come’.
August 15th, 2024 at 5:51 am
Judon > JPP. Big miss by Bucs.
August 15th, 2024 at 6:10 am
Hard to call a preseason worthless when used as a tool to evaluate individual
and team play of the rookies and backups. IMO, controlled scrimmages are still a work in progress that can be improved by the controlling intensity and fights. Bowles AND Pederson seem to be on the right track to gain some control by being on each practice field. We will see how day two goes to see if that proves out.
August 15th, 2024 at 6:20 am
^^^preseason game ^^^
August 15th, 2024 at 6:28 am
Barton is a big physical athletic strong man. He does things very well and he doesn’t try to do too much or too little. Everything is right on point when he plays. He find the right man and pushes him back and makes waves for the ball carrier quickly. His feet stay set. His hands to eye coordination are on point. I liked his tape and I knew Bucs fans would like this guy. We needed a star to replace Ryan Jensen. So happy for the fans and I know Baker probably feels a lot happier now hahaha.
August 15th, 2024 at 7:46 am
For all those that wanted the Bucs to take JPJ instead of Barton Johnson just got activated after being injured all of camp.
August 15th, 2024 at 8:53 am
Reading and hearing “Big Ten powerhouse USC” is going to some time to get used to
August 15th, 2024 at 9:49 am
But still, casuals get all twisted when an OL, C no less, is drafted in the 1st Round…
Football is won with Big Uglies. You cannot have enough on both sides of the ball…
August 15th, 2024 at 12:26 pm
Couldn’t have made a better first round pick. He’ll keep getting better for years. Look up Creed Humphrey. After Kelce retired he may be the best center in football. All American from Oklahoma. 25 years old and been the Chief’s OL leader for 4 years. Stacking Rings. Baker Mayfield walks into a locker room with 10 Super Bowl champions. At least 2 hall of gamers. After first year he gets what looks like a hand picked OC and a first pick center! Best 3rd round “sleeper”receiver I’ve ever seen. I am thankful Bowles and Licht placed such faith in Baker. In the NFL today there are 4 starting QBs from OU. Rattler at Saints could be 5. Hurts, Murray, Williams(Bears), and Mayfield. Mayfield is better than all those guys. Offensive line better and more depth. Secondary better and more depth. 2nd and 3rd QBs look good. And a high powered offensive scheme and the skill players to execute it. We’re lining up to be so much better than the pundits have predicted. I don’t know much. But I do know that.
August 15th, 2024 at 3:44 pm
Kenton, I totally concur.
August 15th, 2024 at 6:07 pm
Kenton, I like it!! Barton is looking good and I hope it stays that way. If the young guys that we have can double down again we are good. Just have to execute the plan week in and week out. Go Bucs!!!!