Rams hand Barron starting job

ST. LOUIS -- Alex Barron arrived at the St. Louis Rams' rookie minicamp having already been handed the starting right tackle job.

Coach Mike Martz is willing to live with some growing pains from the team's first-round pick, whom he has compared with Rams six-time Pro Bowler Orlando Pace. He's so confident in his decision that he didn't even watch Barron in the first practice of the three-day camp on Friday.

"I make the assumption he's going to be fine," Martz said. "We're handing him the starting job at right tackle. That's his."

But Martz asked the media to be patient with the 19th overall selection out of Florida State. Barring too many struggles, Barron would fill a gaping hole on the right side and solidify the line.

"He's going to have some tough moments, but he is our right tackle," Martz said. "We're making that commitment to him and we're trying to get him ready as quickly as we can."

Barron said he needed to be patient, too.

"It's going to take some time for me to get adjusted to the plays, the system, the players," he said. "I'm not going to come in and know everything and be able to do everything 100 percent.

"I'm just going to try to take my time and do the best I can."

Martz expects Barron to have some rough patches, along with the rest of the team's draft picks and first-year players.

"Put yourself in his spot. Regardless of whether you're a first-round pick or you're making X amount of money, it doesn't make any difference," Martz said. "When you strip all of that away it's still a scary proposition to come into the league and start for the Rams at the right tackle spot.

"He'll have some struggles but bear in mind two or three years from now I think we'll have a real special player."

Barron, who was one of 23 players in the minicamp, was happy just to get back on the field in a semi-relaxed setting. The Rams have 19 coaches, making it an almost 1-to-1 teacher-pupil ratio.

"They're dividing their time with everybody," Barron said. "Every step and every drill, they're showing us how to do things."

This is the third year the Rams have held a separate camp for rookies and first-year players. Coach Mike Martz sees it as the perfect indoctrination to life in the NFL.

"We're trying to create an environment where they get all of the information that they need to have to have success without any stress," Martz said. "This is a teaching pace with all of the information they need over and over and over again, so that when the veterans come here and they're thrown into the mix, A, they know what to do and, B, they've been through these drills now so they can blend in and have a chance to have more success early."

Second-round pick Ron Bartel, a cornerback from Howard, appreciated the attention and the somewhat laid-back atmosphere.

"The microscope is always on you, you're always being evaluated, so you want to try your best," Bartel said. "But it is a little bit more relaxing than it'll probably be once everybody gets in."

It probably wasn't so relaxing for Ryan Fitzpatrick, a sixth-round pick from Harvard who is the only quarterback in the minicamp. Martz was just a few feet away the entire hour-long workout to offer a personal critique.

Still, Fitzpatrick seemed to revel in his status if only for the weekend.

"I'm getting a lot of individual attention, not only from my quarterback coach but from Coach Martz," Fitzpatrick said. "Everything he says, he's saying to try to make me better. I'm just going to absorb everything."