DALLAS — Jaishawn Barham could be the best linebacker the Dallas Cowboys have had since Sean Lee, ESPN analyst Louis Riddick said Wednesday morning on Get Up.
Riddick said Caleb Downs is the name that comes up whenever the conversation turns to the focal point of a defense that allowed a league-worst 511 points last season. He told viewers to remember Barham’s instead, and pointed them to the tape from last week.
“Outside of Caleb, maybe even more so than Caleb, maybe the most consequential draft pick that they’ve made this year,” Riddick said. “This guy could be the best linebacker they have had there since Sean Lee, back in the early 2010s. This guy is that good.”
What The Dallas Cowboys Have Seen From Jaishawn Barham
Barham missed the preseason opener at Seattle with a groin injury from Oxnard. He debuted in the starting defense at Arizona on Saturday night, wore the green dot, and finished with 5 tackles including 1 for a loss.
Brian Schottenheimer went through that tape with reporters Monday at The Star and said Barham ran out of steam at points and was hurting from a conditioning standpoint.
“A lot. I think you see him get skinny. You see him less in the surface area for a blocker to have and then be able to still create so much power,” Schottenheimer said. “The guy’s an extremely powerful person. But I think you just see the experience of that versatility showing up on understanding angles and then changing his body, contorting the different ways to beat a blocker. The worst thing you want to do to the guy is try to take him on down the middle because he’s so damn strong.”
Barham was asked Tuesday whether his experience rushing off the edge was what let him get under the block on the tackle for loss.
“No, I would say that’s off the ball. You work on slipping blocks, setting the slipping, we call it, but you work on slipping, shedding,” Barham said. “I feel like you’ve got to use them all. You can’t just always run a hit. You’ve got to learn how to slip blocks and get off blocks.”
DeMarvion Overshown, who starts next to him, said the two did not know each other before this year.
“It’s been great. We help each other out a lot, able to feed off each other energy,” Overshown said. “And that’s what’s going to make us so dangerous, between me, him, everybody else in the linebacker room, how connected we are.”
The Sean Lee Comparison
Dallas drafted Barham in the third round, No. 92 overall, in April, three rounds after taking Downs 11th. He spent two seasons at Maryland, was a Freshman All-American there in 2022, then transferred to Michigan and played both off the ball and on the ball.
Lee went in the second round out of Penn State in 2010 and gave Dallas 11 seasons. Injuries took 58 games from him, including all of 2014 to a torn ACL, and he still started 92 of the 118 he played. Two Pro Bowls came in 2015 and 2016, first-team All-Pro the second time. At his retirement in February 2023 the Cowboys credited him with 995 tackles, eighth in franchise history.
What Is Left Before Dallas Cowboys Cuts
Friday night closes the preseason, with the New Orleans Saints at AT&T Stadium at 7 p.m. CT on CBS. Two days later, at 5 p.m. CT Sunday, Dallas has to be at 53.
