Rams training camp notes: Mark Barron is fine-tuning his linebacker role
Mark Barron restarted his career, morphed into a new position and became one of the Rams’ most productive defensive players last season.
And he did it, he said, while playing primarily on instinct.
“Pretty much tell me what I’ve got and I’ll take it from there type of thing,” he said. “That’s mostly what that was.”
Barron, 26, played safety at Alabama and for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who chose him with the seventh pick in the 2012 NFL draft.
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The Rams acquired him in a 2014 trade deadline move and he began last season listed as a safety.
But when weak-side linebacker Alec Ogletree suffered a season-ending ankle injury in Week 4, defensive coordinator Gregg Williams moved the 6-foot-2, 213-pound Barron into a hybrid linebacker role.
And Barron flourished.
He finished with a team-best 116 tackles and parlayed his performance into a five-year, $45-million contract.
After learning on the job last season, Barron is utilizing training camp to hone his skills on the details of playing linebacker.
“I wasn’t uncomfortable, but at the same time I didn’t know everything that I needed to know,” he said of 2015. “It was simplified. It was pretty much ‘You have this gap, take care of that and play from there.’
“Now, I know what’s going on here and I know what’s going on there. You have to know everything that’s going on around you to be as comfortable as you can be.”
Barron and Arizona’s Deone Bucannon are blazing a trail for other NFL players who could find opportunity in the hybrid role.
“He does a great job with it,” Barron said of Bucannon, “and I feel like I do a good job with it. I just want to keep getting better. If it is a new position I want to be the best at it.”
The Rams moved Ogletree to middle linebacker and Akeem Ayers will start again at the strong-side spot.
Barron said the group’s strength is versatility.
“We do everything,” he said. “We’re faster than most linebackers corps and we hit harder than most.”
Valuable backup
Benny Cunningham is on track to again back up running back Todd Gurley, who is coming off a rookie-of-the-year performance.
Cunningham, 25, originally signed with the Rams as an undrafted free agent from Middle Tennessee in 2013. His work on special teams won him a spot on the roster and his role has grown each season. Cunningham caught 26 passes and rushed for 140 yards in 2015. He averaged 28.6 yards per kick return.
He was a restricted free agent after last season but signed with the Rams for about $1.7 million.
“For the guys trying to make it, I tell them all the time that I made this team by special teams,” said Cunningham, who has scored five touchdowns. “A lot of guys come in they were the biggest guy at their college.
“They don’t understand there’s a lot of big guys here. So you have to try and find your way and perfect your role and that’s what I’ve been trying to do since I’ve been here.”
Notes
The Rams were off Thursday. They resume practice Friday at 3:30 p.m. at UC Irvine and will practice at 3 p.m. during the inaugural “Family Day” at the Coliseum on Saturday. Admission is free. Gates open at 1 p.m. Parking is $20…. NFL officials will be at Irvine on Friday and will discuss with players and coaches rule changes and points of emphasis that will be implemented this season.
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