Ronde` At Free-Safety Should Be Just Fine

Let's run-off some quick facts here.  Future Hall of Famer, # 20 Ronde` Barber = 5-Time All-Pro, 5-Time Pro-Bowler, Super Bowl Champ, Most consecutive starts by a Defensive Back in NFL history and still going at 199 in a row, Most Sacks ever by an NFL Cornerback with 27, Bucs all-time leader in interceptions with 43, and finally, member of  the NFL's 2000's All-Decade Team.  No player ever fit the popular term "He's forgotten more football than you will ever know", more than Mr. Ronde` Barber. 

For the last handful of years, we've heard that he's lost a step, he's too old to keep up, and destined to be replaced.  Yet, he's still here, and he even had one of his most productive seasons last year.  In a season where most of our team gave up, and went through the motions last year, Ronde` was still hustling, making plays, tackling ball-carriers, and looking like age has no factor in his ability to still impact any given game.  In fact, comparing last season to his championship season 10 years ago in 2002, Ronde` had more interceptions (3 picks in '11 vs. 2 picks in '02), more forced fumbles (1 ff's in '11 vs. 0 ff's in '02), and the exact same number of total tackles for the season (79 total tackles in 2011 and 2002).  In a nutshell, this man can not only still play this game, but he can play at a high-level, be effective, and change the course of games. 

Just when pundits, critics, and so-called "experts" were calling it a career on behalf of Ronde`, he has been given a new life.  He's no longer a Cornerback; he's now designated to be our starting Free-Safety.  Along with rookie Strong Safety Mark Barron, this position switch not only shores up our last line of defense, but it also opens up the door for several "splash" plays from the safety positions. 

Fact, the Cornerback position is much harder to occupy than a Safety position.  If there is a position where true speed is an absolute requirement, its the Corner.  Safeties have the benefit of already being at least ten to fifteen yards behind the line of scrimmage.  They are not required to be as fast and agile as a corner.  So saying that Ronde` has lost a step, is not such a big deal.  What better way to use your smartest, most capable player on your defense, than to move him to the back of the defense, to where he can view the entire offense and whatever plays are coming his way?

As a Free Safety, with the exception of Cover-Two defenses where he will have a specific deep-half of the field to protect, he will mostly be free, to hover wherever is appropriate, and make/prevent plays.  He will be lined up on the weakside of the defense, and will have the option of picking up coverage for our Weakside Linebacker, and/or our Middle Linebacker, whenever those positions blitz.  If he chooses not to pick up that coverage, he just stays deep to assist our corners on any seam routes being run by the offenses.  He will no longer have to turn his back to an offense.  His main requirement, will be to not let any player on offense get behind him. 

The main transition he must master now, is the ability to take proper pursuit angles.  This matter is extremely essential to our defensive success.  If you think this is not important, please remember the worse player our defense has seen in decades, Mr. Sabby Piscitelli.  His career here in Tampa consisted mainly of taking the wrong angles to help our corners, and making Ronde` and whatever other corners we had, look worse than what they really were.  We won't have to worry about that with a true professional like Ronde`.  He won't get caught chasing the wrong routes, he won't get caught out of position, and with 1,138 regular season tackles, he won't get caught shying away from making the stops needed to get our defense off of the field.  His pride, work ethic, commitment to always learning, natural instincts, and natural abilities will not allow him to play this position at a mediocre or even average level. 

As long as Ronde` Barber stays injury-free, this is going to be a very interesting and widely watched position switch for the Bucs defense.  The entire NFL will be watching.  It has been done before.  Rod Woodson and Aeneas Williams, two of the best to ever play the Corner position, made the switches to Safety late in their careers, and extended their time in this league for a few extra years. 

Aeneas Williams #35 & Rod Woodson #26

Williams turned the extra seasons into two more Pro-Bowl selections, an extra All-Pro season, and a Super Bowl appearance with the Rams in Super Bowl XXXVI (the Rams Lost to the New England PaCHEATots 20-17 on a field goal while the game clock expired).  In Woodson's case, he parlayed that switch into 3 more Pro-Bowls, an extra All-Pro season, and 2 more trips to the Super Bowl, winning the 1st with the Ravens, and losing the 2nd as a member of the Raiders, against our Bucs.