can Barron play ILB in Wade's 3/4?

Blue and Gold wrote this:

Barron played WILL linebacker in Williams’ 4-3 defense. He was a linebacker, not a safety. And even when Rams went 30 dime he was a linebacker not a safety. And in the positioning of the WILL backer in the defenses in essentially inside, it’s not that different from what will be asked of him at ILB in Phillips defense. For example the WILL in a 4-3 if it is stacked puts Barron in same spot as a 3-4 ILBer in Phillips’s scheme. He has played 2 seasons in the box for the Rams, actually 2 plus seasons and held up.

It was Barron’s questionable play at safety that allowed him to be available for a trade and why Rams liked him in the box in 2014 and why he was moved to LBer when AO went down. His coverage wasn’t good enough for S, but it was good enough as a LBer. So the question as to whether he is a success as a LBer has nothing to do with what he is in coverage but what he is versus the run, in the gap fits, running though traffic and making plays and when need be to take on a lineman. Everyone knew he was not up to snuff as a S. If he were, TB wouldn’t have dumped him so soon after taking him in 1st round.

The deal with Barron is not whether he can play the position, he can do it, he’s proven he can be an NFL linebacker. Leading the NFL in tackles behind the line of scrimmage is a big deal. The question is can he sustain it? Hard to say at this point. No one can see the future, but it is a fair question to ask if Barron can sustain what he did for a long period of time. He didn’t make the big plays in 2016 that he did in 2015. Maybe it was circumstances, but I watched him in 2016 and he was out of position, getting blocked more than in 2015. In 2015 he was excellent, making lots of plays in the backfield, not missing tackles.

In 2015 Barron had 15.5 run stuffs and 3 pass stuffs. In 2016 he had 6 run stuffs, no pass stuffs…but did pick off 2 balls in 2016 versus none in 2015.

In terms of size and so on, Barron has enough to do it, and as I mentioned in Jan the Deone Bucannon comparison is good because the Cards run a 3-4 one gap scheme and have for a long time and after converting from safety, Bucannon was their ILB or “moneybacker” or “MO” in that scheme at 216 pounds. Now, Bucannon was not as effective in 2016 as he was in 2015. It’s possible the gimmick of a smaller linebacker caught up with both he and Barron last year or maybe both just had poorer years due to the teams both having poorer years. The point, though, is Bucannon for AZ plays a similar spot as what they say Barron will be playing in the new scheme.

They could do well and Barron has another so-so year. Or, they may sttuggle on defense and Barron could have a good year like in 2015 or like Bucannon did in 2015… there are all kinds of possibilities.

I certainly would draft an ILBer in this draft, sometimes they can be found in middle rounds (4-5) and have him compete with Barron. But I certainly expect for at least 2017 Barron to be the Mo (ie. moneybacker ILB).

Though having said that I prefer to see people play and reserve judgment. We will have camp, we will have OTAs and get reports. We will see preseason and if Phillips plays Barron at ILBer we will see how he does.

For those interested here is Bucannon (#20) as an ILber in AZs 3/4 base defense: