One of the knocks on Cowboys rookie Jaishawn Barham, and one of the reasons he was still around when Dallas was on the board in the third round of the draft, was that despite having been an impressive and well-built–he is 6-foot-3 and 240 pounds, with a 4.64 40-yard dash time–prospect, no one could quite figure out where to play him. He was an off-ball linebacker for the Wolverines, but did a lot of his best work on the defensive line as an edge rusher.
Teams were not sure whether they’d be drafting a linebacker or an edge rusher by taking Barham, so they mostly decided they’d just pass.
But the Cowboys and new defensive coordinator Christian Parker scooped him up, betting on his talent and unconcerned with how he was defined positionally. On Saturday, after coming back from a groin injury suffered at camp in Oxnard, Barham made his preseason debut against the Cardinals. And after one game, it looks like the Cowboys may have a starter at linebacker.
Cowboys Need Linebacker Depth
Of course, linebacker has been one of the big problems for this Cowboys team thus far in this offseason. Attempts to sign the likes of Nakobe Dean, Quay Walker and Devin Lloyd fell short in free agency, and trade for a player like Jordyn Brooks never got beyond the discussion stage.
But Cowboys analyst Jeff Cavanaugh of DLLS Cowboys said that the way Barham fits into Parker’s defense makes him a good choice to not just play, but to start–or, at least, get a starter’s number of snaps.
As he said: “If they let Jaishawn Barham play starter snaps, I think that is awesome. He has earned it. Even with missing part of camp, I think that Jaishawn Barham has earned the right. If you have a third-rounder who was playing edge at Michigan last year, as your starting middle linebacker, holy crap, what a find in the third round. That would be awesome.”
Jaishawn Barham a ‘Violent Football Player’
As NFL stats analyst Trevor Sikkema said after the Cowboys drafted Barham, “Violent football player, man. I think that the way he plays is physical first. … He is a big, strong dense dude who will get after the football and loves to attack the trenches.”
Indeed, that is the consensus. Barham’s scouting report at NFL.com noted, “With explosive traits and inside-outside versatility, he projects as an impactful future starter once his technique catches up.”
Cowboys Excited About Jaishawn Barham
It’s only one game in the preseason, but then, what we saw on Saturday against the Cardinals was what Cowboys reporters and coaches had been seeing out of Barham since rookie minicamp. He’s a physical specimen, and maybe he plays too fast sometimes–but, team owner Jerry Jones pointed out that some players just “smell” the ball, and Barham is one.
As RJ Ochoa of the Blogging the Boys Cowboys analysis site said: “Jaishawn Barham had his coming-out party in the Cowboys’ preseason win over the Cardinals on Saturday night. He was outstanding. He had an early tackle for a loss that set up a Shavon Revel interception, in which the Cowboys ultimately cashed in …
“More than anything, he looked like an absolute terminator out on the football field. Jaishawn Barham brings a level of physicality and aggressiveness that is really, really going to help this defense.”
Cowboys’ ‘Violent’ Rookie May Get Starting Spot After Preseason Debut