Challenge of Playing Safety as a Rookie

[BucsBay]

I think something a lot of those criticizing Barron fail to realize is the number of really good safeties that have struggled their rookie years. Just off the top of my head both Troy Polamalu and John Lynch were not very good in their rookie campaigns, and IIRC it took Lynch until year 3 to really start to become they player he would be. Add that to Barron not having a lot of experienced players around him at CB, defensive play calling that is somewhat questionable at times, and a mediocre pass rush and it is only fair to give Barron another year before you really start to judge his play.

[Doc Sparticus]

Agreed. He definitely flashes, so theres still a lot of promise. He got abused yesterday, but I noticed at least some were easily correctable, i.e. the faceguarding habit from college

[Timbuc2]

Notice that #24 for the Ravens Graham. He is a rookie and looks like a stud! Just having fun and ballin'.

[BucBalla85]

That's what I've been saying as well. We live in a quick fix society though. Some guys take longer. I'm not guaranteeing Barron will get it but he could. Possible. Man seems to have the desire to get better and as long as he is playing for Schiano he will have to get better. I see him becoming a very good player for us down the road. He's already good at run support. He just needs to work on the other stuff. He works hard at it, he will get better.

[BucsBay]

Notice that #24 for the Ravens Graham. He is a rookie and looks like a stud! Just having fun and ballin'.

Graham is a CB, not a safety. Much less demands as far reading keys for that position. Graham has also only started 2 games, 1 of them against Bryon Leftwich.

[NotDeadYet]

    FS may be the hardest position to learn as a rookie; that's why so few are drafted early. First round picks are generally expected to play and be productive from day 1. Mark Barron's best assets at this point are his desire to be great in the NFL and his willingness to be coached. He'll be fine.

[tatmanfish]

Barron had a bade game for sure. Most other games his good plays and bad plays are fairly even. He shows good splashes and his bad plays are mental, not physical. He makes a bad read or get beat on a move, or is caught out of position.

The mistakes hes making are easily corrected and much of it comes with experience. Hes fine, and hes not a liability on the D like every CB is. Better talent around him and a little experience and hell be the player many expect him to be. Only problem is people expect rookies to come in and light it up when in fact only about 10% are game changers regardless of their draft position.

Draft position is a terrible argument for production(especially production right out of the gate) anyways. The player didnt choose where/when they would be drafted. They played hard and and showed reasons for a team to pick them. Most rookies take time to develop and adjust to the pro game. being drafted high doesnt change that fact....just like being drafted low shouldnt mean a player is guaranteed to suck and never be anything.

Some of the best players to ever play the game didnt play lights out their rookie year....fact is most dont.

[JDouble]

I think the weekly fines might be effecting him mentally and throwing off his game. I mean, his calling card is being a tough throw back hard hitting safety....and it just doesn't fly in today's NFL. His best attribute is being weeded out of the game. He's probably second guessing everything he does after being fined for illegal hits every other week.

[Detrimental]

I think something a lot of those criticizing Barron fail to realize is the number of really good safeties that have struggled their rookie years. Just off the top of my head both Troy Polamalu and John Lynch were not very good in their rookie campaigns, and IIRC it took Lynch until year 3 to really start to become they player he would be. Add that to Barron not having a lot of experienced players around him at CB, defensive play calling that is somewhat questionable at times, and a mediocre pass rush and it is only fair to give Barron another year before you really start to judge his play.

Good point. I'm willing to give Barron sometime. Hell, I remember Jermaine Phillips even turned the corner on his coverage ability in the latter part of his career.

[JDouble]

On the flip side......John  Lynch was not the seventh overall pick. Expectations are high on a guy taken that high, especially when it is a safety. Safeties aren't usually taken that high so when they are, the expectations are extremely high. The truth is, 7th round pick Cody Grimm was playing much better as a rookie in 2010 than Barron is this year. I'm not calling him a bust this early, but there really is nothing wrong with expecting greatness immediately from a safety taken that early in the the draft. If he isn't an immediate baller, then it probably wasn't a great idea to take him 7th overall. Guess time will tell. Hope he catches fire.

On the bright side, even if Barron ended up being a complete bust....we got two top ten talents in Martin and David so it all evens out. Still a good draft.