"If you're still wondering why the Bucs drafted Mark Barron"

[Booker Reese]

So we drafted Barron to defend a foolish trend? I don't buy it. Starting QBs make too much money for the option to last long term. It's nothing more than this year's version of the Wildcat.

Nah I doubt that as well. Barron will be an all around player and pro bowler in the future.

The read option will not make it. RGIII has gotten hurt several times with it. Russell Wilson and Colin are better about not getting hit with it. It still is going to come down to the QB making precise throws when it counts. If they can't do that then the read option doesn't work.

Still not about the read option, it's about the QB being a talented passer and oh by the way he can run as well.

Yeah, Kaepernick and Wilson run an NFL offense with an occasional option play just to keep the defense honest. I can see that sticking around. However, running the option on over 50% of your plays like the Redskins.....no way. Never going to stick in the NFL. It's a gimmick and gimmicks don't last.

I think you are missing the point of the read-option.  Kaepernick barely carried it against Atlanta and created huge holes for the running game. The Skins used it to play-action teams all over the place.

It's something far more significant than a gimmick - I don't think every team can run it, and if the QB is going to keep it a lot, he's at risk of injury. But the thing is the QB doesn't necessarily need to keep it a lot.

[Booker Reese]

 " Read options are a fad. QBs will get punished running that op, and it will fade away. It gets QBs killed."

What were seeing now is a result of a bunch of them coming out of college at once. But there's no way the college ranks will be able to supply them as fast as the NFL will chew them up. When it's shown that their average career length is very short, their value will plummet. Teams aren't going to spend a first rounder or trade a bunch of picks for a guy who's only going to last a few years.

That's one possibility - the other possibility is that it makes it possible to run the scheme with players once thought of as more marginal QB prospects. I'd point out that Wilson didn't run the read-option in college (and was a 3rd-rounder), and Kaepernick was a second-rounder.

[The Anomaly]

Well, we sure do know how to stop the run unfortunately, read option plays are few and far between.  Like someone said..a.fad...like the wildcat.

In a league where teams pass like never before MAYBE JUST MAYBE we should try to concetrate on stopping the PASS!!!!!

Just a thought...

Yup the 49ers and Ravens are passing teams 

I'll play...not sure if you are defending our crap defense or not but...the Bucs would FORCE the 49ers or Raven to throw for 300 yards on us.  How's that?

Next....

[nybuccguy]

Barron wasn't drafted to stop the read option. No one was running it when he was drafted.....it wasn't really used by teams untill this year. Barron was drafted because safety is a key position in Sciannos style of defense, it was a weak spot on the team, and he has the height to potentially cover big time receiving TEs like Graham and Gonzalez

[JDouble]

Well, we sure do know how to stop the run unfortunately, read option plays are few and far between.  Like someone said..a.fad...like the wildcat.

In a league where teams pass like never before MAYBE JUST MAYBE we should try to concetrate on stopping the PASS!!!!!

Just a thought...

Yup the 49ers and Ravens are passing teams 

Ravens had the 15th ranked passing offense and 11th ranked run offense. Pretty balanced.

49ers were very balanced too before Kaepernick took over. Now they are a run first team because of Kaepernick's tendency to rack up 100+ rush yards per game.

[NotDeadYet]

     A lil' history for ya'll; back in the early '60's, the old 49ers started running a shotgun formation (different than today's) where the QB sometimes by design ran the ball. They rotated 3 different QBs in and out; John Brodie (mainly a passer), Bobby Waters (mainly a runner), and a young Bill Kilmer (both). It worked against some solid defenses of the time, until they ran into da Bears, who now had some tape on it and had a plan...
     Decent article on it here  http://www.profootballhof.com/history/decades/1960s/shotgun.aspx

     I doubt this is the reason we drafted Barron. With only an injured Cody Grimm as an experienced S, we needed a safety, and Barron was the top-rated S in the draft. Regarding the Vikings, Harrison Smith had a much better pass rush in front of him as well as more experienced teammates overall on D, and as I recall was the 2nd rated S by draft gurus.
     I expect our whole D will be greatly improved next season, and Barron will be a big part of it...

[captainjimbo]

Well said NDY.  I don't understand the whole Barron bashing.  He got put in a pretty touch situation.  With some experience and better people around him I think he will be one of the cornerstones of the D in the future.

[nubcake]

It's amazing to me that people still think the read option is a gimmick. Half the teams in the NFC playoffs ran it this season, the team that won the conference runs it, and we would have had a conference championship with 2 read option teams had Carroll not crapped the bed with his game management.

Gimmicks die because they only work up to a certain point. It's hardly impossible to keep your QB from getting drilled on a consistent basis...simply a matter of teaching them when to slide and how to avoid hits. Out of the 4 main QBs running it(Cam, Wilson, Kap, RG3), only the latter has sustained an injury. The trend certainly won't drive pure passers out of the league, as there are only so many athletic QBs that are also great at throwing the ball too, but there's no doubt in my mind that the league is headed in a direction where we'll see more of it. Gimmicks don't make it to Super Bowls.

[youngone]

Well said NDY.  I don't understand the whole Barron bashing.  He got put in a pretty touch situation.  With some experience and better people around him I think he will be one of the cornerstones of the D in the future.

I agree

[JDouble]

It's amazing to me that people still think the read option is a gimmick. Half the teams in the NFC playoffs ran it this season, the team that won the conference runs it, and we would have had a conference championship with 2 read option teams had Carroll not crapped the bed with his game management.

So the Seahawks are an option team? They run the option like three times a game.

[Dolorous Jason]

Barron is a baller.

[youngone]

Barron is a baller.

Damn right

[Pewter Pirate]

They drafted him, because he knocks the sh** out of players.

[PassThePigSkin]

Well, we sure do know how to stop the run unfortunately, read option plays are few and far between.  Like someone said..a.fad...like the wildcat.

In a league where teams pass like never before MAYBE JUST MAYBE we should try to concetrate on stopping the PASS!!!!!

Just a thought...

Yup the 49ers and Ravens are passing teams 

I'll play...not sure if you are defending our crap defense or not but...the Bucs would FORCE the 49ers or Raven to throw for 300 yards on us.  How's that?

Next....

I'm not defending the defense. I was pointing out how the two teams playing in the big game are run first teams that don't have big passing games.

[DeadmenTNT]

Or maybe the reason we drafted him was because of this from today's Fab 5:

As new Buccaneers director of college scouting Eric Stokes continues to work on his first draft in Tampa Bay after spending the past 12 years working for the Seahawks organization, I had the chance to ask him what he thought about the Buccaneers’ 2012 draft, which is off to a tremendous start given the early success of Pro Bowl running back Doug Martin, linebacker Lavonte David and strong safety Mark Barron.

Stokes, a former safety at Nebraska, knows a lot about the safety position and played an integral role in drafting Seattle’s talented tandem of Earl Thomas and Kam Chancellor.

“I loved the players the Bucs drafted, especially early,” Stokes said. “I did Doug Martin personally, but Mark Barron was a guy that we were going to try to trade up for in Seattle even though we have Earl Thomas and Kam Chancellor, who are Pro Bowlers. Mark Barron is that type of player.

“When you went through the draft he was clearly the best football player in the draft. It didn’t mean that he was the best athlete or the most talented, but he was hands down the best football player in the draft. I have true convictions about that. He was so solid [last year] and he will continue to grow. He’s too solid of a player.”

Quote "best football player in the draft" end quote.

So either Barron was viewed as special around the league, or Stoke is now Director of Smoke Blowing at One Buc.