FRISCO, Texas – With Caleb Downs and Malachi Lawrence in the fold for Dallas' defense after day 1 of the 2026 NFL Draft, the Cowboys selected Michigan LB Jaishawn Barham on day 2 with the 92nd overall pick in the third round.
As is the case of most of the Cowboys' draft class, Barham has the versatility to play different positions in a defense, either inside at linebacker or lining up on the edge. For now, Cowboys head coach Brian Schottenheimer said the plan was to start Barham at linebacker, and defensive coordinator Christian Parker added that he'd working at the MIKE linebacker spot and would go from there.
The linebacker position was one of the biggest needs for Dallas' roster going into the draft, and they addressed it by drafting Barham and trading for 49ers linebacker Dee Winters. Now, it's a matter of Parker feeling out where they fit into his scheme.
Let's take a look at some film from Barham at Michigan and see what he can do:
Avoiding the second level block
When teams are trying to run the ball, offensive lineman often climb to the second level of the defense and try to get linebackers out of the way to create rushing lanes, cut back lanes, etc. It's important to be quick on your feet and avoid getting swallowed up by a block in those situations, which is what Barham does on this play.
As the center tries to get his hands on him, Barham side steps out of the way and avoids being taken out of the play. It appears the play is designed for the running back to go through the B-gap, but Barham and one of Michigan's defensive tackles are able to close it pretty quickly.
So, the back is forced to try and go outside. Based on the angle Barham is coming from, he's only able to get a hand on the ball carrier, but gets some help from his teammate to slow him down and then is able to wrap from behind and bring the running back down. Moving east-to-west is one of Barham's best traits in his game, and we'll touch on it again here in a moment.
What Barham can do off the EDGE
As mentioned earlier, the Wolverines also used Barham quite a bit at EDGE on defense. Barham posted 12 sacks over the course of his collegiate career (two years at Maryland, then two years at Michigan) with four in his final season to go with a career-high 10 tackles for loss.
This play isn't a sack, but it's about as good of a rep you can have without coming up with one. Barham goes straight at the right tackle with the bull rush and pushes him back, then just throws him out of the way and makes it look easy. Still, that's only half the job.
The other half begins as Barham goes one-on-one with John Mateer, Oklahoma's mobile quarterback who has the ability to make plays with his legs. This is where you see some of that speed that we mentioned earlier, with Barham keeping his chest towards the quarterback in pursuit, extending an arm out to try and deflect a pass that looked to just be a fake without leaving the ground and losing his angle, and then finally getting to the quarterback and forcing him into a bad throw/throw away.
Ability to move from sideline-to-sideline
Why are the Cowboys starting Barham at inside linebacker? There could be a number of reasons, but I'd say one of them is his ability to cover a lot of ground quickly from sideline to sideline, like on this play.
Any fellow Texas high school football fans out there? For context on this play, the running back for Oklahoma is Tory Blaylock, son of former NFL running back Derrick Blaylock, and true freshman for the Sooners. The reason I bring him up is to point out his speed. Blaylock ran a 10.62 100-meter dash as a junior, and won a state championship in the 4x100 relay that same year which also set a national record by more than two tenths of a second at 38.92 seconds. Long story short, he is very fast.
Based on Barham's movements on this play when Blaylock goes in motion, it looks like he's manned up against him. The motion is to get Blaylock moving early and let him get to that top-speed quicker, and he looks to have a bit of a head start on Barham moving to the left. Barham's angle, however, eats up a lot of that space quickly, and he's able to recover and get out into the flat to take away what could've been an easy touchdown had he not gotten there in time. Instead, the Sooners were faced with fourth and goal.
