2012 NFL Draft: Why Alabama's Mark Barron Is Unworthy of a First-Round Selection

In an era of football in which tight ends are becoming the center of the league's most explosive offense, the safety position is evolving into a "core" position as defenses try to keep up with these freakish athletes at the tight-end position.

As a result, safeties are no longer viewed as a position that can easily be filled later in the draft, which is causing Mark Barron, who is the consensus top safety in a weak class for the position, to fly up draft boards.

When I comb the internet to get a feel for what the first round is going to look like, I have seen several respected and widely-known draft analysts pick Barron going as high as No. 16 to the New York Jets. This took me by surprise, so I decided to take a look at the film for myself and see if I was missing something.

After watching several of his games, I came away viewing Barron as an overall solid football player, but with a few glaring weaknesses that would have me nervous trusting him as the last line of defense, and here's why:

Barron's strengths are clearly his physicality and willingness to throw his body into contact and blow up runs. He has good ball skills with a natural "feel" for routes. For a strong safety he is pretty versatile, as he lined up everywhere from a cover-1 "center-fielder" to a linebacker in nickel packages. 

The problems with Barron start with his shoddy footwork and stiff hips. While he maintains solid coverage in man-to-man situations against college receivers, his backpedal and overall technique are not quite as polished as you would like. I can see veteran tight ends and slot receivers just abusing Barron early in his career. 

For example, against Tennessee, he was largely responsible for a big touchdown run because of his inability to recover from false movement. He was the last man in coverage, and he simply let the Tennessee back run right by him as he was still trying to get churning. 

This doesn't mean that Barron does not have a chance to be a very good player, because he can. He is very instinctive and can cover a lot of ground in a hurry if he doesn't have to change direction. If he can improve his footwork and technique and clean up his wasted movements, he can be a very effective strong safety at the next level that is capable of playing in just about any system. 

To me, I would feel more comfortable taking him in the second or third round and letting him develop for a year, but because of the increased demand for safeties and a dwindling supply of them, odds are that a team is going to roll the dice on Barron early.