{"id":777444,"date":"2026-02-26T11:56:59","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T11:56:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/777444\/"},"modified":"2026-02-26T11:56:59","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T11:56:59","slug":"michigan-lb-jaishawn-barham-breaks-silence-at-nfl-combine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/777444\/","title":{"rendered":"Michigan LB Jaishawn Barham breaks silence at NFL Combine"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Michigan Wolverines<\/a> have a healthy contingent of players at this week\u2019s NFL Combine in Indianapolis, but Wednesday marked a bit of a milestone for linebacker\/edge hybrid Jaishawn Barham<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It had nothing to do with his on-field testing, which takes place Thursday. However, it did mark the first time that Barham has spoken to the media since his college career began.<\/p>\n

Barham spent two seasons at Maryland before his final two years at Michigan. This past year, Barham moved from linebacker to the EDGE rusher spot. He reflected on what his two years in Ann Arbor did to prepare him for the next level.<\/p>\n

RELATED: Michigan experience prepared Rayshaun Benny for NFL: \u2018I wouldn\u2019t trade it for the world\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

\u200a\u201dI feel like it\u2019s prepared me physically, mentally, and on the field, off the field, spending time with guys there,\u201d Barham said. \u201cJust learning more. It just prepared me a lot. Life on the field and off the field. That was great.<\/p>\n

\u200a\u201dI would say my knowledge of the game [improved] for sure. Just learning how to watch film. My speed strength has improved a lot. [Taking on a] leadership role, knowing my position.\u201d<\/p>\n

Barham will meet with several NFL teams this week, also revealing the local Detroit Lions have spoken to him as a potential SAM linebacker, and wants teams to know that he is all about his business on and off the field.<\/p>\n

\u200a\u201dI\u2019m serious,\u201d Barham said of what he brings to the table. \u201cI take it really seriously. This is the job. This is nothing to play around with.\u201d<\/p>\n

Barham played in 12 games last season with 11 starts, four coming at linebacker and seven at edge. He totaled 32 tackles, 10 tackles for loss, 4 sacks, forced a fumble, and defended 3 passes. His play earned him honorable mention All-Big Ten nods from the coaches and media.<\/p>\n

The year was defined by his move to more of a pass-rushing role. Barham said that it helped him a alot as he developed some variety to his skill set.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing on the edge is just like\u2026 speed,\u201d Barham said. \u201cI would say it\u2019s a different speed, but on the edge from off the ball. I would say it brings a different speed to the tackles. They\u2019re not used to that, usually from an off-ball linebacker. So I would say and just the strength being in the middle, knowing how to play the edge and going back to the middle, that strength is different going against tight ends.\u201d<\/p>\n

If Barham moves to an outside linebacker role in the NFL, he feels like his experience at both positions will help him. And teams are still interested in playing him at both edge and linebacker.<\/p>\n

\u201c[The versatility] helps. It just gets you going against different guys. You\u2019re going against some guards, more centers. Of course, outside, that tackle or tight end might double more.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026It\u2019s been fun. I\u2019ve been talking to teams about both.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pro Football Focus has Jaishawn Barham as the No. 106 player in the 2026 NFL Draft class, which would put him into third\/fourth round territory. Other combine invitees for this week include fullback\u00a0Max Bredeson<\/a>, wide receiver\u00a0Donaven McCulley<\/a>, tight end\u00a0Marlin Klein<\/a>, edge rusher\u00a0Derrick Moore, defensive tackle\u00a0Rayshaun Benny<\/a>, linebacker\u00a0Jimmy Rolder<\/a>\u00a0and kicker\u00a0Dominic Zvada<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s draft will be held in Pittsburgh from April 23-25 with the first round on night one, second and third rounds on night two and fourth through seventh rounds on the final Saturday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Michigan Wolverines have a healthy contingent of players at this week\u2019s NFL Combine in Indianapolis, but Wednesday…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":777445,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2026],"tags":[7,30808],"class_list":{"0":"post-777444","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-jaishawn-barham-22-st-frances-academy"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116136813710240539","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777444","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777444"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777444\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/777445"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777444"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777444"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777444"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}