well. this pretty much eliminates lb in the first round.
Yeah, it seems they have their guy.
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from off the net
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Kind of Blue/Gold
Mark Barron Fun Facts
Barron’s contract has been questioned by some, but the Rams may value him with Lavonte David, Pro Bowl WLB-type upside, and compensated him accordingly – David just signed a five year, $50 million ($25 million guaranteed) contract last year in the 2015 pre-season.
Barron was sort of playing at that level, his 66 solo tackles starting the last approx. 2/3 of the season would prorate to 100 solos, top 3-ish among NFL LBs . David himself, for instance, was #7 among LBs in 2015 (85 solo tackles – though second as a rookie in 2012 with 112, fifth in 2013 with 106 and second again in 2014 with 101, showing remarkable consistency). SF ILB Navorro Bowman was in a class by himself post-torn ACL, leading with 115+ solos, MLB Posluzsny, JAX and OAK WLBs Telvin and Malcolm Smith and KC ILB Derrick Johnson ranged from 103-95 solos.
They are somewhat paying for potential, being a position conversion, to an extent (though the way he was deployed formerly as a big nickel SS down in the box a lot used primarily in run support and occasional blitzes, is virtually indistinguishable from how he will be used as a full time WLB ), but he really did look like a natural. Interestingly, Barron was a five star prospect rated the #1 WLB prospect in the nation among the 2008 recruiting class by Scout.com who could have gone virtually ANYWHERE (in addition to Alabama, also offers from Auburn, LSU, Florida State and Florida, Tennessee, etc.), so he is in effect being converted BACK from DB to LB, where he began his multi-position journey and NFL pathway in the first place – his first conversion was from LB to safety at Alabama.
Back to the contract, not sure they had a choice, after losing half their secondary in the first few minutes of free agency, and already cutting JL and ANNOUNCING Barron was their intended replacement, they HAD to retain him.
Barron’s CV
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Barron
Tremendous, gifted prep athlete (sounds like a decathlete-type great athlete). Starred at RB, WR and LB. His track exploits sound like a poor man’s Christian Okoye (improbable combo as Nigerian national champ in BOTH the 100 and shot put), winning Alabama state titles in the triple and long jumps, discus and shot put.
Two time All-American at NFL pipeline/conduit Alabama
7th overall pick in the 2012 draft (the same when we traded the 1.2 to WAS, than traded their 1.6 to DAL and got Brockers at 1.14, also when we drafted JJ and TruJo in the second and third) would have given him among the highest pedigree for a safety since the merger, with late UCLA great Eric Turner [#2], former USC great Mark Carrier [#6], LSUs LaRon Landry [#6] and Miami legend and likely future Hall of Famer if not murdered, the late Sean Taylor [#7]. Also the highest pedigree on our defense, even with three firsts in the top half of the first round on the DL alone (Quinn, Donald and Brockers), as well as one other at LB, with Ogletree a late first, and if Ayers stays, not far behind as a relatively high second – as were the recently/just departed Laurinaitis and CB Jenkins, nickel CB Lamarcus Joyner was a mid-second. On offense, he would be second only to LT Robinson [1.2], and just ahead of Tavon Austin [1.8] and Todd Gurley [1.10]. Kenny Britt was a low first at TEN when Fisher was HC there, Saffold and Quick were high seconds.
Just 26, Barron’s best football could still be in front of him.
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Agamemnon
