Dashon Goldson is working hard at changing many, many aspects of his game. He hired a tackling coach to learn to lower his target. He addressed the same issue with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' coaches. He even cut off his dreadlocks, which should make it a little easier to distinguish him from Mark Barron on the field.
And now, he's taken up MMA training to improve his game.
If Dashon Goldson's play doesn't improve, we probably can't blame his work ethic this offseason. And he does need to improve. While the reaction to his personal fouls has been overblown (three other Bucs players racked up more penalty yardage, including Gerald McCoy and Mark Barron), it was part of a few more issues. Most notably, he was frequently involved in coverage breakdowns, supposedly caused by his mixing up coverage calls from his 49ers days -- at least per Pewter Report's coverage.
Goldson won't be cut this year, of course. His salary is guaranteed. He's not going anywhere. And he'll be the starter, too -- unless somehow Keith Tandy looks like a better free safety than Goldson in training camp. Goldson's play last year was pretty good, overall. Not deserving of his contract. And with too many issues to call it a good year, but he looked like a quality starter nonetheless.
The veteran safety will have to elevate his play to stay on the roster, given his massive salary going forward. He'll have to be more disciplined in coverage than he was last year, whatever the cause of that lack of discipline, as he'll likely be asked to play deep safety frequently. Lovie Smith has little patience for mental errors, and mistakes in a deep position lead to touchdowns far too often.
Thankfully, it looks like Goldson is doing whatever he can to get back to being an impact safety.