The Bucs And Jaishawn Barham
April 18th, 2026
It’s well known that Todd Bowles likes “chess piece” defensive players.
Bowles has long had love affairs with players who can do multiple things, be cross-trained successfully and have enough athleticism to be moved around.
Two years ago, edge rusher Joe Tryon-Shoyinka got the Magnus Carlsen award from Bowles.
“Joe can move all across the line of scrimmage and help us with a lot of things. He’s our linebacker. He’s our defensive end. He’s our 3-tech. He’s our part-time nickel. He’s our part-time inside linebacker,” Bowles said of JTS. “He can come from a lot of areas so he has a lot of jobs. And he’s one of those chess pieces that I talked about.”
Unfortunately, Tryon-Shoyinka was more pawn than rook. And the Browns and Bears learned that last season. Now he’s on the Eagles.
Defensive backs? Bowles loves interchangeable players. Notice how Bowles changes nickel cornerbacks every year? That’s no coincidence.
Logan Hall was the Bucs’ first draft pick in 2022 as a clear tweener — defensive tackle/edge rusher.
So Joe is wondering if Bowles and Buccaneers Ring of Honor general manager Jason Licht might be smitten by another tweener/hybrid/versatile type in next week’s draft: Michigan linebacker Jaishawn Barham. Is he an inside linebacker in Bowles’ scheme, an edge rusher?
Barham played inside linebacker for most of his four-year-starter career at Maryland and Michigan, but he bounced to edge rusher for a bunch of games last season and did well.
Of course, Joe assumes any educated Michigan man understands NFL edge rushers earn a lot more than linebackers if they get to a second NFL contract.
Regardless, there’s no consensus among the film gurus on where Barham is best suited at 6-4, 240 pounds. And that might make him a Bucs-Bowles kind of guy. He’s largely viewed as a third- or fourth-round pick.
NFL.com film guru Lance Zierlein compares Barham to Chop Robinson, who made an impact as a first-round rookie edge rusher for the 2024 Dolphins. Former Todd Bowles defensive end (Jets) Leger Douzable, who works for SiriusXM NFL Radio and CBS, raved about Barham’s Maryland film and is struck by his versatility.
Joe likes how it was Michigan defensive coordinator Wink Martindale, the highly successful former Ravens defensive coordinator, that coached Barham the past two seasons and pushed him to edge rusher early last season. And kudos to Barham for thriving in a hurry.
TheAthletic.com draft guru Dan Brugler notes Brugler is lacking in instincts and wins primarily with “speed, physicality and body twitch,” along with an “overdrive” motor.
Whether off-ball or on the edge, Jaishawn Barham’s game is pretty simple:
See ball, get ball. pic.twitter.com/UgR3o7z34o
— Doug Farrar ✍ (@NFL_DougFarrar) March 22, 2026
April 18th, 2026 at 6:50 pm
I don’t know if he’s a good fit for us
I like Malachi Lawrence from UCF,
I think Lawrence and Yaya will make a fantastic duo
April 18th, 2026 at 7:28 pm
I’m not very fond of tweeners. They tend to not be particularly good at anything. We’ve really not had a lot of luck with them as made manifest with Mark Barron as a prime example
April 18th, 2026 at 7:30 pm
Chess piece JTS “more pawn than rook”. Zing! Ha.
The lack of instincts descriptor by scouts worries me. Hard to teach processing speed for NFL football players.
If we are taking a flyer on hybrid defensive role with extremely high processing, Kyle Louis out of Pitt is a film junkie. Undersized LB who can cover all levels and lightning quick blitzer. Will only thrive with a DC* that can get creative and carve out a skillset specific role.
PS: elite mental processing is what makes Jacob Rodriguez a star.
*Cue the Bowles cant coach narrative. I get it, just bored of the monotony.
April 18th, 2026 at 7:47 pm
Bowles just ‘thinks’ he’s playing chess. The dude is in his own universe. He wouldn’t know a “chess piece” if it hit him in the face. I still don’t know HOW they missed out on BIG BAD Deone Walker in last season’s draft!? Now, THAT is a “chess piece.” Can literally play at ANY position, all up and down the line. Doing. It. ALL. This bunch is a lazy ‘clueless’ bunch with ZERO sense of urgency. They are SO WEAK and in over their heads. It’s just not even funny. Watching Lickt & Bowles inside of that draft day ‘war-room’ last off-season, was a shock to the system. It was sickening. It was like, you could see everything sooooo crystal clear. Their incompetence just JUMPED off the screen. My eyes completely OPENED. It was SUCH a ‘horrible’ feeling. Indescribable. But, ALL BAD. You could just see the reality, of HOW BADLY disadvantaged we were having Lickt & Bowles leading this team. It was literally the blind leading the blind. I don’t believe the ‘franchise’ as a whole, is in any advantageous hands either, with this current ownership group. And, NOW they’re trying to stick it to the Rays, by getting into the way, and disrupting their plans. They are JEALOUS of the entire development and scared to death of not being involved and getting THEIR PIECE (that they feel ENTITLED to).
April 18th, 2026 at 7:56 pm
Barhan could be similar to Zack Baun
He maybe a better ILB than OLB, it depends
Hassan Reddick was moved from Inside to outside
And he became a Pro Bowl double digits sacks artist
Zack Baun was moved from outside to inside
And he became a 1st team All-Pro ILB
We never know how these things play out
April 18th, 2026 at 8:27 pm
Please 🥱🥱🥱🥱🥱
April 18th, 2026 at 8:36 pm
Pass
April 18th, 2026 at 8:54 pm
Lakeland- I liked Laurence at 46th pick but they way he has shot up draft boards the last few weeks makes it seem like he won’t be available. I hear people claiming he will be a late first round pick now. If the Bucs trade back and get an extra 2nd or 3rd round pick Laurence may need to be their 1st pick. Do you like him that much?
Milichi seems like a 3 down edge, I like R Mason Thomas but I see him being more of a pass rush specialist and there are other options with similar traits you can get late day 2/ early day 3.
April 18th, 2026 at 8:59 pm
Stanglassman,
I like him if we trade down in the 1st round
I think him and Yaya will be a deadly duo for years
April 18th, 2026 at 9:10 pm
Cindy got robbed lol
April 18th, 2026 at 9:16 pm
Dexter Lawrence traded to Cincinnati for the 10th pick
That’s a big shake up in the drafr
April 18th, 2026 at 9:17 pm
Cincinnati is desperate for defense
They feel they are wasting Burrow, Chase best years
April 18th, 2026 at 10:05 pm
Wait. What? The Bungles dumped hernia-haver Hutchinson and his salary expectations that were commensurate with his sack production so they could give up a top ten pick for the privilege of giving that money to a trench player with a surgically reconstructed elbow coming off a season all but devoid of production?
That says something about the DTs available in this draft and free agency and/or the Bungles front office.
Is their next move swapping starting QBs and WRs with the Browns straight-up? I have not just liked, but been smitten by Dexter Lawrence since his Clemson days but that was all before he dislocated his elbow. He already has almost twice the career sack total of Vince Wilfork and his fat guy TD at Clemson was one of the most joyous moments in all the football watching I’ve ever done but that elbow is the beginning of his end.
April 18th, 2026 at 10:34 pm
The Bengals just prove once again WHO they are. Just soooo fricking STUPID. And, just to find themselves, right squarely in the middle of ANOTHER contract dispute with an aging Defensive Linemen in the near future (this time not even an EDGE rusher). Just Mind-Blowing.
April 18th, 2026 at 10:38 pm
Barham is a player I have watched a lot and I like a lot and I want to see him succeed in the NFL but I am so mad at Bowles I don’t want him to get any of his old accustomed draft types. No Scrappy-Doo slot CBs. No “versatile” defenders who can fail in more ways in his scheme in the NFL than anyone can imagine. Barham can’t cover and he isn’t a legit edge. I’m torn on him because I enjoy his get-after-it talent but even smart players fail in this defense (he isn’t) and there are many better ways to go.
If the Bucs draft Michigan, I hope they go for Derrick Moore. He is a clear edge with a well-rounded game and all the stats and measurables available late day 2. Barham could pan out beautifully but his floor is also JTS low. I’m getting Sabby Piscatelli flashbacks from that JTS rhetoric quoted above. Remember when Sabby single-handedly devised a game plan to shut-down Matty Lice? Licht has some BS but it ain’t no Gruden BS.
April 18th, 2026 at 10:47 pm
A game show host??? 😆
April 18th, 2026 at 11:00 pm
6-4 240 is not too small for a stand up edge rusher – you really only get into trouble when you go too big and slow, not when you’re a little lighter than what is idea. With that said, this guy really hasn’t been someone I’ve looked at, and reading some profiles and looking at his numbers – I’m not overall impressed. But if he slipped to the 3rd round, I wouldn’t really have an issue with taking him if all the TE’s and ILB’s you want are gone.
April 18th, 2026 at 11:10 pm
Thing I’m least worried about is how any of the D players drafted fit into Todd’s “scheme”. Just find talented, high football IQ, hungry players that love ball. Unlike Todd, suspect next year’s DC will take the time to identify his player’s strengths and then craft a D that gets the most out of the skillsets… instead of demanding they execute assignments they’re ill-suited for.
April 18th, 2026 at 11:16 pm
Thing I’m least worried about is how any of the D players drafted fit into Todd’s “scheme”. Just find talented, high football IQ, hungry players that love ball. Unlike Todd, suspect next year’s DC will take the time to identify his player’s strengths and then craft a D that gets the most out of the skillsets… instead of demanding they execute assignments they’re ill-suited for.
April 18th, 2026 at 11:58 pm
If he is there in there for the Bucs in the fourth, Barham would be a good edge piece for the Bucs. But, I have seen him mocked from mid second to late fourth, and the Bucs certainly have greater needs in the first and second rounds and they probably have a greater need in the third.
First needs to be Kayden McDonald. He looks like he could provide a hefty boost to the defense for a decade or more.
Second needs to be an ILB, Rodriguez or Hill – a difference maker and not just another Joe. 😉
Third should probably be a nickel back/corner back like Ponds or a combination ILB/DB like Harold Perkins. I really like Ponds, but I can’t help shading towards Perkins. Perkins seems to be a bit taller and a bit heavier version of Parrish with about the same Sun 4.4 forty speed who can play anything ILB, OLB on passing downs, or pretty much any DB position. When the Bucs are flooded with injuries and trying to come up with enough fingers to stick into the dike to stop the flood, Perkins looks like the lifesaver the way Izien was for while but with more physical gifts and demonstrated productive.
Adding an OLB like Barham in the fourth round, someone who is stout against the run, can run down a screen, drop into a short zone, or hunt the quarterback, would round out the defense very well and leave three picks to try to find a boost for an offense which should already be much improved by getting Mauch and Bredeson back, adding a solid RB, and getting a better play caller.
April 19th, 2026 at 2:22 am
This article right here spells out in perfect detail why Todd Bowles and Jason Light will be doing food podcasts together as ex Bucs employees a year from now.
Thanks my Joe.
April 19th, 2026 at 8:49 am
Checkers
April 19th, 2026 at 9:16 am
I like it. Him as a olb that can cover the flats. Move Nelson back 2 the line n let barham play that olb role. He plays fast sometimes too fast tho overruns the play. If he stacks that outside with a lil more power I can see him being very effective as a starter. He adds depth 2 a small linebacker group. Very fast pass rusher.
April 19th, 2026 at 9:27 am
Like him alot – He reads well and has speed with a non stop motor.
April 19th, 2026 at 9:42 am
So Bowels loves the proverbial “jack of all trades, master of none?” That explains a lot.
April 19th, 2026 at 10:17 am
Like many prospects that played multiple roles in college, it’ll all depend on where they get drafted, and how they get developed and schemed in the pros. Something the Bucs have been terrible at with this position.
April 19th, 2026 at 10:55 am
Derrick Moore is the player from Michigan that the Bucs should draft in round 2.
The dude is being completely undervalued. He’s much like Bradom Graham and will just be a rock on the edge for many years.
Lakeland:
I like Lawrence a ton as well. Problem with him is where the Bucs are drafting. He would be a nice target if the Bucs were able to trade down into the 20s. He wont be around in round 2 when the Bucs pick.