The arrival of cornerback Darrelle Revis in Tampa has already benefitted safety Mark Barron.
Barron got $50,000 from Revis to give up the No. 24, a nice chunk of change for a number that Barron only wore for one season. That’s not all that Barron hopes to get from Revis, however.
Barron thinks that Revis and safety Dashon Goldson, another new arrival, can also help him become a better player by pointing out things that the second-year player may not be appreciating on his own. It’s a relationship that Barron had with the now-retired Ronde Barber last season and he thinks the two new Buccaneers will provide him with the same kind of tutelage.
“Knowledge. Just like with Ronde Barber,” Barron said, via PewterReport.com. “There were certain things I wanted to learn from him as far as just studying the game. And I picked up some things from him and now I have two different players I can pick up more things from. I just feel like I am in a great situation where I can learn from different players and pick up a lot of things.”
If Barron stayed at the same level as last season, the Bucs secondary would be better because of the arrival of Revis and Goldson. It’s a lot more likely that he’ll improve with a full season under his belt and an offseason focused on the areas where he fell short, however, and that should make the pass defense in Tampa considerably better once the season rolls around. Since the Bucs were 7-9 with that poor pass defense last year, that kind of progress can put them into the scrum for playoff spots for the first time since they went 10-6 and fell short in 2010.