{"id":983390,"date":"2026-08-26T04:12:34","date_gmt":"2026-08-26T04:12:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/983390\/"},"modified":"2026-08-26T04:12:34","modified_gmt":"2026-08-26T04:12:34","slug":"groin-strain-only-a-small-speedbump-in-cowboys-lbs-continued-rise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/983390\/","title":{"rendered":"Groin strain only a small speedbump in Cowboys LB’s continued rise"},"content":{"rendered":"

FRISCO\u00a0\u2014 Cowboys<\/a> rookie linebacker Jaishawn Barham has shown a propensity to handle a lot this offseason. There was one moment that tested him, however.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Barham\u2019s preseason debut<\/a> was delayed by a week after he was ruled out of the first preseason game with the Seattle Seahawks. He suffered a groin injury earlier in training camp, forcing him out of joint practice against the Los Angeles Rams, as well. It \u201ckilled\u201d Barham to miss his preseason debut against the Seahawks, owner Jerry Jones would later say on 105.3 The Fan (KRLD-FM).<\/p>\n

\u201cI almost couldn\u2019t do it,\u201d Barham said of sitting out against Seattle.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Barham made up for lost time, however. He quickly impressed in his preseason debut against the Cardinals<\/a>, finishing with five tackles and one tackle for loss.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Barham said he had a simple mentality before his preseason debut.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t like them,\u201d Barham said, adding that he treats every team the same.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Barham has been accustomed to making good impressions early in his NFL career. The third-round pick out of Michigan rose up the depth chart quickly<\/a> in Oxnard. By the third practice he was already rotating in with the starting defense. Less than a week into camp, Barham had become one of the talks of training camp. Jones even brought him up when asked about which players had impressed him. He referred to Barham as a \u201cwardaddy.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The groin injury halted Barham\u2019s rise temporarily. And though it bothered Barham to be off the field, the time away didn\u2019t stunt his progression. Cowboys head coach Brian Schottenheimer said Monday that\u00a0Barham picked up right where he left off.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Everyone around the Cowboys has spoken highly about Barham\u2019s ability on the field and his focused inquisitiveness off it. Up until Tuesday, Barham had preferred to let his play\u00a0\u2014 and others\u00a0\u2014 speak for him.<\/p>\n

Barham spoke to reporters after Tuesday\u2019s training camp practice at The Star in Frisco for the first time since rookie minicamp. He acknowledged it means a lot that the coaches have trusted him with an increased role, including operating as the green-dot linebacker against the Cardinals on Saturday, but he was quick to point out that he has room for improvement.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like all around,\u201d he said after listing some areas where he hopes to get better. \u201cI\u2019m not perfect. There\u2019s a lot of stuff I can still work on.\u201d<\/p>\n

That doesn\u2019t mean he can\u2019t handle playing early on, however.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWeek 1?\u201d Barham asked. \u201cI\u2019m ready right now.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FRISCO\u00a0\u2014 Cowboys rookie linebacker Jaishawn Barham has shown a propensity to handle a lot this offseason. There was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":983391,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2066],"tags":[230,229,257,2461,7,6,115985,129176,123386],"class_list":["post-983390","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-dallas-cowboys","tag-cowboys","tag-dallas","tag-dallas-cowboys","tag-dallascowboys","tag-football","tag-nfl","tag-tp-dallas-cowboys","tag-tp-jaishawn-barham","tag-tp-training-camp"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/117159863482224662","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/983390","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=983390"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/983390\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/983391"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=983390"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=983390"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=983390"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}