FRISCO, Texas — Jaishawn Barham would be just fine with never doing interviews. The Dallas Cowboys rookie linebacker politely declined requests during the entire four-week portion of training camp in California.He finally took questions from reporters on Tuesday for about three minutes, the first time since rookie minicamp back in May.Barham just wants to play football. He doesn’t have much interest in talking at great length about himself, but many are interested because of how he has performed on the field. The Cowboys entered the draft with inside linebacker arguably their biggest need. They didn’t select one until Barham in the third round.He’s now looking like he could be one of the biggest steals of this year’s class.Cowboys rookie Jaishawn Barham has been turning headsJon Machota“He’s awesome,” Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer said. “And I think I’m getting to know Jaishawn on a much closer level. He’s very serious and (has) great intent. You talk about a guy that’s wired the right way. And don’t let his demeanor, the way he carries himself around you guys make you think for one second that he’s not all in for this football team.“He is very serious at what he does and he wants to be great. But he’s getting more and more comfortable in this locker room around our players and around our coaches. I think he’s a terrific young man.”The Cowboys don’t do rookie hazing. There’s not even any singing in front of the team.They do a show where rookies impersonate just about anyone in the organization. One person is off limits: owner and general manager Jerry Jones. During this year’s show, which took place last week, linebacker Langston Patterson was Schottenheimer and first-round pick Caleb Downs was defensive coordinator Christian Parker.Who was Barham?“That’s a good question,” Schottenheimer said. “He was an extra. He was involved. He played his part beautifully. Jaishawn, great job. But he was more of an extra, which some of the guys were only extras.“He was very good. Oscar-worthy of what he did as an extra.”Before suffering a groin injury three weeks ago, Barham looked on track to potentially be a Week 1 starter. He missed the first preseason game but returned to practice in time to play in the second one last weekend in Arizona. In 22 defensive snaps, he flashed his impressive athletic ability and aggressive, physical style on several occasions, finishing with multiple QB pressures, a tackle for loss and five total tackles.“I still got a lot of work to put in,” Barham said. “I’m just trying to get better every day, trusting the coaches, trusting my teammates.”He shared that he would like to play lower, be better with his hands and improve his sideline-to-sideline coverage in the passing game. He also acknowledged that he’s working to get his conditioning all the way back to where it was before the groin issue.“All around I’m not perfect,” Barham said, “so there’s a lot of stuff I can still work on.”The Cowboys were interested in the top available inside linebackers during free agency, but all signed elsewhere. Dallas responded by drafting Barham and then trading for veteran Dee Winters. Those two, combined with DeMarvion Overshown and Shemar James, are at the top of the Cowboys’ depth chart. Overshown and Winters have received the most first-team work in camp.But Barham has also worked with the first group, including on Tuesday and Wednesday in practices open to fans at The Star. It’s not difficult to envision a playmaking duo of Barham and Overshown. If both stay healthy, it could be exactly what Dallas needs at the linebacker spot to help improve on what was arguably the worst defense in franchise history last season.“Week 1? I’m ready right now,” Barham said. “For sure. If Week 1 was right now, I’d be ready.”Barham has the ability to play any linebacker position. He’s been getting work in the middle, but he can line up on the weak side or on the outside and rush the passer. He was an off-the-ball linebacker while at Maryland and in his first year at Michigan before moving to edge rusher.The Athletic’s Dane Brugler ranked Barham as his 16th overall edge rusher in the 2026 draft class, with a third-to-fourth round grade.“Barham must improve his discipline and refinement to stay on the field,” Brugler wrote in his ‘The Beast’ draft guide, “but he can create disruption based just on his explosiveness and high activity level. He will need a patient coaching staff ready to cultivate his athletic upside.”Barham said Tuesday that he believes he has the “perfect coaching staff” in Dallas.“They’re going to put you in the right spot to make plays,” he added. “It’s up to you to make them.”Downs and Malachi Lawrence received most of the early attention from this year’s draft class and deservedly so after both were picked in the first round. But the Barham buzz seems to grow every day he’s on the field. He has an intimidating presence whether he’s walking to the locker room or blowing up a run play.No reason to change what stood out in camp practices carried over into last weekend’s preseason game. But will it be the same when the games count?“From the time he’s gotten here, we’ve been really excited about the player, the person, the seriousness that he approaches meetings with and the ability to communicate,” Schottenheimer said. “The versatility is real and it kind of goes back to draft day. We did the work, we did the prep, he was there, Jerry made the call, and it was great.”