Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Lovie Smith has expressed his belief that his side are as good as anyone in the league when it comes to the safety position.
Both Mark Barron and Dashon Goldson have struggled with injuries during the off-season so far, with the latter not expected to be fit enough to take part in team drills until training camp in July.
However, Barron is starting to return to fitness and, despite not having seen them together on the training field so far, Smith is confident that they will complement each other perfectly.
"It's critical for us to have great safety play. It's been like that since the beginning of time and it hasn't changed," Smith told reporters.
"We're as good as anybody around at the safety position. Dashon Goldson is one of the guys that's watching right now. Mark Barron is getting back out there. They have video. Both of them are perfect matches for what we're going to do."
Goldson agrees with Smith and believes that he and Barron will learn from the mistakes they made while playing together last season.
"Coming into our second year together, we know each other's weaknesses and strengths. We'll get on same page and eliminate a lot of those mistakes we had last year," he added.
Goldson is currently recovering from ankle surgery, while Barron missed the team's first minicamp with an unspecified injury.
Barney Corkhill
