The Good & Not So Good From Day 3 of Cowboys Training Camp: Jaishawn Barham is Ballin'

Jaishawn Barham is ballin'

There has been no shortage of hype for Barham early on in camp and we saw exactly why that's the case on Saturday.

Barham had a sweet pass break-up on a pass to CeeDee Lamb in the red zone and a nice stop on a run play on another rep.

Here's the pass break-up:

He once again flashed some coverage skills when he locked down Malik Davis on a wheel route.

Joseph Hoyt of the Dallas Morning News noted that Barham was "getting a lot of work with the starters today" and viewed him as "the clear standout" of the session.

The Michigan product is having about as ideal a start to camp as a rookie could hope for.

A strong day for the rookies

Along with Barham, Caleb Downs, Malachi Lawrence, Michael Trigg, Camden Brown and Anthony Smith had some standout plays.

Downs and Lawrence combined to wreck a play on one rep, when Lawrence notched a pressure and Downs recorded a PBU on a pass he almost picked off.

Smith wasn't able to stay in bounds, but on one rep he showed "great movement off the ball to get open and then bent back to the corner where he made a spiral catch," Hoyt wrote.

Trigg recorded his first catch of training camp and the rookie crossed the goal line for a score, , and Brown reeling in a nice catch in the end zone, which promoted Nick Harris of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram to note that the UDFA wide receiver is "making a strong early impression."

George Pickens doing all the right things

Pickens is making plays, as you'd expect, but he's also doing all the right things when the ball doesn't come his way.

"No other way for me to say this other than to say it: genuinely, through three practices, George Pickens is locked in every single rep — whether he gets the ball or not (decoy routes, blocking) and, when he does get the ball, you’d think he’s playing in a game TODAY," Patrik Walker of DallasCowboys.com wrote.

Good communication

Hoyt noted how the Cowboys' defense showed impressive communication pre-snap. That's important to note because communication was a major issue for last year's unit.

The Not So Good

New injuries

Before practice, head coach Brian Schottenheimer revealed that the Cowboys have two new injuries, as Jalen Thompson is dealing with a hip flexor and Zion Childress has a hamstring issue. Also, P.J. Locke remained sidelined with his hyperextended knee.

Jake Ferguson was also absent from practice on Saturday, but it was for a personal reason.

Jaydon Blue drop leads to pick

The Cowboys are especially intrigued with Blue's ability to catch passes out of the backfield, but he wasn't able to come up with a grab over the middle and it led to an interception, which was Dak Prescott's first of training camp.

A minor hiccup in August, but Blue has to make sure it doesn't become a trend if he wants third-down work in 2026.