RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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See the full story · 1 sourcesIt was only a practice session, very early in training camp. That’s the way an entrenched NFL veteran can afford to look at it, but to fans looking for clues, reasons to be excited — and a young player trying play himself off the bubble and onto the roster — it’s bound to be something more.
… Especially when it’s a Cowboys practice.
So when Rocky Hill’s Justin Barron picked off three passes, the first against future Hall of Famer Matthew Stafford in the join practice with the Rams, Cowboys fans had a new favorite. Had Barron, who spent most of his rookie season on the practice squad, gone from long-shot to lock in one afternoon?
“It’s all rat poison,” Barron said, channeling the old Nick Saban line , “don’t believe any of it. … My whole mindset throughout this camp has been, like, how many good days can I stack in a row? I’m trying not to look too far into the future here.”
He doesn’t count them, he says, but Barron clearly has a pretty tall stack of good days with final cuts a week away. In Dallas’ two preseason games, he has been in at linebacker on 85 defensive snaps, 66 percent against the Seahawks and 74 percent against the Cardinals last Saturday, certainly an indication the Cowboys’ new defensive coordinator, Christian Parker, and head coach Brian Schottenheimer are intent on taking a long look. Barron, meanwhile, began watching the film of his performance on the flight back from Arizona to Dallas Saturday night, and spent much of his recovery day Sunday doing the same.
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“The biggest thing with film is, it’s never as bad as you think, and it’s never as good as you think it is just off your first reaction right after the game,” Barron said. “So the film is either a good humbler, or it’s a good little pick me up. The first thing I’m looking for is how the run fits right in my game, my job, my assignment. Then when you watch the next time, for me, it’s looking at technique, whether I can do something better that will put me in a better position to make a play.”
Barron, who played at Suffield Academy and then starred at Syracuse, playing multiple roles on defense during his college career, has always been the football guy’s football guy. Each time he played against UConn, where his father, Jason, played in the 1980s, Jim Mora, former NFL head coach then at UConn, singled Justin out as a player destined to play in the league. He signed with the Cowboys as an undrafted free agent, and stole the show when the rookies were asked to entertain the veterans, affecting a well-received impersonation of Schottenheimer. He was waived at the end of camp, but quickly re-signed to the practice squad. He was activated at the end of the season, and got into games against the Commanders and Giants on special teams.
“No one talks about how hard the transition is from college football to the NFL,” Barron said. “It’s not a different game, it’s still football, the game we grew up loving, but the talent is just incredible. In college, you may have a couple of guys on each side of the ball that are really good, but then you get to the NFL and everyone’s the best in the world, you know what I’m saying? … Those opportunities at the end of last season, it kind of gives you a taste of what it’s like, the competition level. Just being able to play in those games just reminded me that I can do this. This is what I’m supposed to be doing.”
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At 6 feet 4 and 235 pounds, Barron has been settled in at linebacker, though he has the speed and experience from his days in the secondary to be a factor in pass coverage. Parker, 34, has brought a fresh scheme that plays to the strengths of versatile linebackers, giving Barron his chance to impress.
“I spent a lot of long nights studying,” he said, “long nights in the offseason grinding and trying to to get into a position where I could make a case to push to make the team. This biggest difference for me is that I’m confident again in who I am as a football player and that makes the game 1,000 times slower. When I’m able to have the game slow down, play confident and play free, that’s when I’m at my best football version of myself.”
DeMarvion Overshown, Jaishawn Barham, Marist Liufau and Dee Winters are topping the depth chart at linebacker for Dallas, with Barron, Shemar James and Curtis Robinson competing for rotational spots. Robinson, who played for Parker in Denver, has been generous in helping Barron learn the scheme. Deciding who will be active for the season opener against the Giants Sept. 13 will be complicated, involving how many players are kept at other positions, but Barron is doing all he can to make the decision hard.
Barron has been in on nine tackles in the preseason games, and, according to Pro Football Focus, he has not missed a tackle and grades out at 83.7 percent. His potential value on special teams works in his favor, as does his football IQ as he has picked up Parker’s new coverages, evidenced by the big day against the Rams in the joined workout Aug. 11.
“I feel like I’ve grown into the role of playing linebacker,” Barron said. “Especially in this defensive system we’re in now, there is high value on linebackers who can run and his and play in space and cover. So I feel like it was a story written perfectly for me coming down from safety last year and starting to play linebacker last year. … The things I was good at (as a safety), it just translates to playing in the box.”
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