Backup Blues For Mark Barron
February 21st, 2015
The Rams’ general manager opened up to Joe
Just at the trade deadline, Bucs general manager Jason Licht pulled off an addition-by-subtraction move when he sent under-performing safety Mark Barron to St. Louis for fourth- and sixth-round picks.
That was one less slug the Bucs had to deal with.
So during this week’s NFL Scouting Combine ,when the NFL marches out so many coaches and general managers to media, Joe asked St. Louis general manager Les Snead if his trade for Barron was working out.
In so many words, Snead doesn’t think Barron will be much more than a backup role player on gimmick plays.
“That’s a good question. Assessment? He was a kid that was available. We liked him in college,” Snead said. “But because of our defense and the scheme we run, we had some creative ideas where we thought we would use him in and that is from Coach Fish (Jeff Fisher) and [defensive coordinator Gregg] Williams and the staff. ‘Hey, this is how we can use him.’ It was a hybrid role because we had two starting safeties so we never wanted to put any of them on the bench.
“’So, let’s take Mark Barron and utilize him that will make a better defense.’ So, I think we did that and over the second half of the season – not saying it is all Mark Barron – I think the last eight games our defense really started playing and he was a part of that. As we go into the offseason, we will have a better thought process of how we can use him creatively.”
I mean, if you have to take a chunk of an offseason to figure out how to use a guy, that doesn’t say much to Joe, or for Barron’s skills.
Joe is just going to guess the Rams didn’t think Barron’s defense of Odell Beckham was, well, creative.
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February 21st, 2015 at 2:10 pm
Just a ridiculous reach by the Bucs when he was drafted. That should have been the draft where Dominick doubled down on the same position in the first two rounds and picked Kuechly and Lavonte.
At least the Bucs got a couple picks to move on from him, but they have to hit on these early picks if they ever hope to bounce back in the division.
February 21st, 2015 at 2:12 pm
Never liked anything from Barron except some of the hits…..but you can get those from an UDFA….
February 21st, 2015 at 2:16 pm
LMFAO! What a move!!! He got shook out of his dreads!
February 21st, 2015 at 2:21 pm
Only good move by licht so far
February 21st, 2015 at 2:29 pm
Didn’t he lay a lick on Steve Smith one time, and then vanished after that?
February 21st, 2015 at 2:29 pm
To be fair, he is basically saying that Barron will not know how to run the defense, He needs an offseason to learn the defense then we can judge.
Not saying barron is great, but if the bucs say there season was destroyed because no one knew the offense, how can you blame a guy that was traded mid season.
February 21st, 2015 at 2:32 pm
Barron was a disgraceful waste of a pick
February 21st, 2015 at 2:42 pm
Just another gem from the sock drawer of the Rock Star. Our defense would be so much better if we had drafted Kuckley but now we are still looking for another MLB because of Rock Stars selection of Mason Foster.
And people want to blame Lovie for all of this. Our drafts have simply been horrible for the last 10 years.
February 21st, 2015 at 2:47 pm
imagine kuechly and david…one of the many should haves or could haves the Bucs have missed on the past several years.
February 21st, 2015 at 2:48 pm
Dat Barron guy, he hangs out with Blount….Legarette or maybe some other..
…blounts
Ya know what I mean?! Ha ha
Cause he’s slow. Get it?
February 21st, 2015 at 2:52 pm
The only big hit I ever saw Baron do on anyone was when he pile drove RG III into the turf. Stupid play. That’s illegal at any level of play. Him and The Hawk were a couple of penalty machines two years ago.
February 21st, 2015 at 3:14 pm
if we drafted kuechly we would not have drafted david. one or the other.
February 21st, 2015 at 3:26 pm
I agree with you, lurker, but one has to wonder why Dominik moved away from his strategy of doubling up in the first two rounds, like he did with McCoy/Price and Clayborn/Bowers (yeesh), to draft a safety as high as he did.
I was happy when the Bucs traded down and bypassed Claiborne, who i didn’t care for, and I’m also glad the Bucs picked Martin and not Richardson. Kuechly would have been an awesome addition, I was not pleased when a division rival scooped him up, but I was highest on Stephon Gilmore, who isn’t a superstar at this point but is a very solid corner. He’s certainly more productive than Barron ever was.
I’m just glad the Bucs ended up with Lavonte David. He was the one guy I wanted on the team most of all, and while I was happy with the Doug Martin pick at the time, when it was happening live, I was pulling for that pick to be used on David. So happy he’s a Buc.
February 21st, 2015 at 3:37 pm
Barron’s career highlight was knocking out Brian Price for sitting in his seat during training camp!
February 21st, 2015 at 3:41 pm
we will never know. if we took kuechly though, another team probably would have grabbed david, or a different player position would have been available for our pick.
February 21st, 2015 at 3:51 pm
Great line.
February 21st, 2015 at 4:04 pm
Oh my god those rams uniforms are the best WHY DID THEY EVER CHANGE THEM!!!!!!
February 21st, 2015 at 4:05 pm
Joe where is your journalistic integrity. You are putting words into Snead’s mouth and that is uncalled for. You should be ashamed of yourself…
February 21st, 2015 at 4:36 pm
Everybody loved him coming out of college. Even Mayock was claiming he was going to be a pro-bowl safety. It’s always so strange when the popular opinion is so wrong.
February 21st, 2015 at 5:19 pm
Another great pick by Joes idol the Rockstar. This is why the Bucs suck so many misses on first round picks
February 21st, 2015 at 5:59 pm
Thought that was a Schiano draft? How soon people forget.
February 21st, 2015 at 6:30 pm
Patrickbucs- GM was still Dominik while Schiano was the coach. Or did you forget?
February 21st, 2015 at 6:32 pm
@iknow
Everyone was saying at the time it was such a great draft because if Schiano..downplaying Dom and his picks. If you were on this site for a while you may have remembered.
February 21st, 2015 at 6:32 pm
@77bassguitarist………they’re not as bad as our uniforms!!
February 21st, 2015 at 6:39 pm
Could have been worse, as I recall Schiano was hellbent on drafting Trent Richardson.
February 21st, 2015 at 8:17 pm
Thats what hapens when you waste a 1st or 2nd because of need.
February 21st, 2015 at 8:23 pm
ROCKSTAR, ROCKstar, rockstar, rocks……….
February 21st, 2015 at 8:26 pm
it is not a waste!
February 21st, 2015 at 8:31 pm
I’m pretty sure if we got a guy open like that either Jameis or Marcus could hit him.
February 21st, 2015 at 10:00 pm
ok lurker, you get some credit there. He helped put us in high draft status last year so we could get Evans….and Barron, until he was traded, helped us get to #1 overall this year. And yes, we got a 4th and a 6th that “just might” be worthy of packaging for a trade up.
But all said and done IMO, it was a waste of a 1st pick that year.
February 21st, 2015 at 10:34 pm
many said it was a great pick. hindsight is 20/20 but draft picking is 50/50.
February 21st, 2015 at 10:39 pm
TBBF is about to board the Winston Wagon! All aboard!!! Smh some fans change there minds more than a B@@@@ change clothes
February 21st, 2015 at 11:36 pm
Still not sure why ESPN has Mark Dominick on their payroll to talk about anything other than how not to draft and how not to assess talent appropriately. I seriously doubt another NFL team would hire him as a GM.
February 21st, 2015 at 11:47 pm
I thought I read some comments that stated that this would be yet another mistake by Lovie Smith. boy oh boy
February 22nd, 2015 at 12:36 am
If Kuechly was drafted by the Bucs in the first round, David (likely) would not have been there in the second. I swear most of the commenters on this site live in some sort of diluted bubble.
February 22nd, 2015 at 1:04 am
I always wanted to see Barron transition to LB. Dude was fine in the box. He was to slow and unaware to play Safety in the NFL. Another stellar pick from former GM DOM
February 22nd, 2015 at 3:05 am
Dominik thinks the Bucs are nuts if they don’t draft Marcus Mariota.
February 22nd, 2015 at 1:07 pm
We need an OBJ on our team!!!
February 22nd, 2015 at 3:05 pm
The year Barron was drafted I talked up Luke Kuechly in almost every JBF article only to be stunned by the Barron reach. I remember Joe and the rest of the fanbase was obsessed with Morris charmin-soft Claiborne. He’s obvious garbage but even he would’ve been better than blow-by Barron.
The year we drafted Clayborn I wanted to trade up for Quinn or Ryan Kerrigan even.
Last year we drafted Evans who was my #2 target, but my #1 target was Teddy Bridgewater and I also talked him up endlessly in JBF articles.
I know it’s fruitless but here I am campaigning for Mariota over Winston. Don’t cross me again Bucs, otherwise I’m done. Joe can listen to his NFL sources all he wants but I know better than to trust NFL evaluators & decision-makers. They’ve done WONDERS for the Bucs the last 10-15 years…….
February 22nd, 2015 at 3:17 pm
(3 gold stars for jff)
*writing fastidiously
noted.