IRVINE, Calif. — Ask around about Rams linebacker Mark Barron, and a word comes up without fail.
Quiet.
“Very quiet guy,” said defensive end Michael Brockers to The Athletic of Barron.
“Mark’s a quiet guy.” linebacker Cory Littleton agreed. “I don’t expect anything less.”
No argument from Barron, who by his own admission has “never been a vocal leader type.”
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Barron has a reputation as a physical player, an outstanding athlete and a talent versatile and smart enough to have been drafted seventh overall in 2012 by Tampa Bay as a safety. With the Rams, he has filled their needs at both outside and inside linebacker.
But more than anything else, the dude is known for being quiet — a “silent assassin” as described by safety Lamarcus Joyner, but silent nonetheless.
Maybe because of this persona, Barron’s achievements with the Rams have gone largely unremarked. Last season, he led the team in tackles with 72 and tied for top honors with three interceptions while playing the majority of 2017 battling a torn right shoulder labrum and heel spurs. Both ailments required offseason surgery, and the recovery from those procedures have lowered his profile at training camp. (Barron is planning to be ready for the Sept. 10 season opener against the Raiders.)
Among teammates, Barron’s contributions are well-known. He is just not a magnet for the spotlight.
“He has a unique, I guess, mystique about him,” Brockers noted. “He just kind of floats around.”
Thus, it’s fitting that Barron’s name has been lost during an offseason filled with chatter about the defense.
The All-Pro caliber presences of new cornerbacks Aqib Talib and Marcus Peters and new defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh — along with Joyner, defensive backs John Johnson and Nickell Robey-Coleman, reigning Defensive Player of the Year Aaron Donald and Brockers — could make an already disruptive, opportunistic, ball-hawking defense damn near impossible to pass against. Of course, there’s also talk about how Talib, Peters and Suh bring with them strong personalities and explosive tempers, sparking fears of a mushroom cloud locker room particularly if Donald, a training camp holdout for the second straight year, allows his frustration to boil over without a contract to his liking.
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They’re all juicy story lines, to be certain, but they’ve completely swallowed up a less sexy but equally important one: Barron is now the leader of a linebacking crew that’s been completely turned over and lacks experience.
Gone are team captain Alec Ogletree, Robert Quinn and Connor Barwin, along with their 42 combined starts last season. Barron is plenty seasoned, but he started more games in 2017 than all of the holdover options combined. This point becomes even more magnified when you consider linebacker was by general consensus seen as the weakest part of that defense. (Fault for any issue rarely lies completely with one position, but the inability to stop the run was viewed as a reflection of the linebackers.)
When it comes to making good on Super Bowl aspirations, this is a critical plot point, but the lack of hoopla would lead one to believe it’s a footnote at best. Or perhaps everyone is trying to convince themselves it’s a weakness that can be papered over through elevated talent up front and in the secondary.
Whatever the case may be, the largely negative assessment at the position is no secret to Barron. During a training camp lunch break, he told The Athletic, “I kinda feel like people are doubting the linebacking corps, honestly.”
Upon being informed that’s absolutely the case, Barron calmly but firmly stood his ground.
“I don’t feel like they should. I most definitely don’t feel like they should doubt me,” he said. “And then you have Cory Littleton. Cory Littleton is a good player. He’s been productive whenever he was on the field. Samson (Ebukam) is a good player. He was productive last year. We have playmakers at linebacker.
“I definitely don’t feel like people should be sleeping on us. But they are.”
Fairly or not, Barron was viewed in Tampa as the face of some horrendous Buccaneers defenses. But as Joyner told The Athletic, head coach Sean McVay has a saying “Those who know, know.”
“And we all know in the locker room, and from the coaching staff, that Marc B is one of the best players on this football team and in the league,” Joyner said.
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“I think he flies under the radar publicly,” McVay said of Barron, who was widely expected to be a cap math casualty if the Rams did not find trade partners for Ogletree and Quinn.
“But if you ask any of his teammates about Mark Barron, he’s got their respect. … I think because of that quiet confidence and demeanor, sometimes you take it for granted. But I know that locker room respects and appreciates what Mark brings to our team.”
But, given his elevated experience, will Barron need to bring more this season? And specifically, more words?
“Yeah, there may be some times where I have to,” Barron conceded. “I’ve been the leader of a defense before. I’ve done that. I’ve played that role. But like I said, my style of leadership has always been more by example. I’m willing to say whatever I need to say, if it needs to be said. But mostly what I do will be through my actions.”
Which isn’t to say Barron has never been proactive about speaking up. He has a reputation as an on-field coach and a veteran more than willing to lend wisdom to younger players. Joyner and Littleton have both been the beneficiaries of his teaching, and Brockers describes him as “the kind of guy you want to look up to as a young guy.”
“I remember (former Rams defensive coordinator Gregg Williams) telling me the most valuable thing someone can say about you is that you’re a real pro,” Joyner said. “And Mark Barron is a real pro.”
But for the time being, Barron’s profile is still decidedly more “those who know, know.” And he is content to remain relatively anonymous. To a point.
“I’m good with it. But I’m not good with it,” Barron shrugged. “I’m good with it, because I don’t necessarily want the attention, but I want the respect that I earned. That I deserve. But at the same time, that’s always motivation. I’m always looking for motivation. So when I see people not giving me the respect I think I deserve, or anything along those lines, that just drives me.”
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Plus, history has taught Barron how, if you consistently deliver, folks eventually notice.
“Even in college, I kind of flew under the radar for a while,” the Alabama product said. “But at the end of the day, by the time I was leaving, people knew. So I feel like that time will come, and people will know, eventually. So I’m just gonna keep doing what I’m doing and it’ll all come to the light sometime.”
Top photo by AP Photo/John Cordes