{"id":416150,"date":"2026-08-25T10:50:14","date_gmt":"2026-08-25T10:50:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/416150\/"},"modified":"2026-08-25T10:50:14","modified_gmt":"2026-08-25T10:50:14","slug":"ct-football-standout-earning-his-stripes-with-dallas-cowboys","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/416150\/","title":{"rendered":"CT football standout earning his stripes with Dallas Cowboys"},"content":{"rendered":"

It was only a practice session, very early in training camp. That\u2019s the way an entrenched NFL veteran can afford to look at it, but to fans looking for clues,<\/a> reasons to be excited \u2014 and a young player trying play himself off the bubble and onto the roster \u2014 it\u2019s bound to be something more.<\/p>\n

\u2026 Especially when it\u2019s a Cowboys practice.<\/p>\n

So when Rocky Hill\u2019s Justin Barron picked off three passes,<\/a> 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?<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s all rat poison,\u201d Barron said, channeling the old Nick Saban line<\/a>, \u201cdon\u2019t believe any of it. \u2026 My whole mindset throughout this camp has been, like, how many good days can I stack in a row? I\u2019m trying not to look too far into the future here.\u201d<\/p>\n

He doesn\u2019t count them, he says, but Barron clearly has a pretty tall stack of good days with final cuts a week away. In Dallas\u2019 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\u2019 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,<\/a> and spent much of his recovery day Sunday doing the same.<\/p>\n

These UConn, Yale and CT high school products are finding their way in the NFL<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThe biggest thing with film is, it\u2019s never as bad as you think, and it\u2019s never as good as you think it is just off your first reaction right after the game,\u201d Barron said. \u201cSo the film is either a good humbler, or it\u2019s a good little pick me up. The first thing I\u2019m 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\u2019s looking at technique, whether I can do something better that will put me in a better position to make a play.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u2019s 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.<\/a> He signed with the Cowboys as an undrafted free agent, and stole the show when the rookies<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo one talks about how hard the transition is from college football to the NFL,\u201d Barron said. \u201cIt\u2019s not a different game, it\u2019s 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\u2019s the best in the world, you know what I\u2019m saying? \u2026 Those opportunities at the end of last season, it kind of gives you a taste of what it\u2019s like, the competition level. Just being able to play in those games just reminded me that I can do this. This is what I\u2019m supposed to be doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dom Amore: Blue Jays were sellers at the deadline, but this CT native keeps the clubhouse bought in<\/a><\/p>\n

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,<\/a> has brought a fresh scheme that plays to the strengths of versatile linebackers, giving Barron his chance to impress.<\/p>\n

\u201cI spent a lot of long nights studying,\u201d he said, \u201clong 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\u2019m confident again in who I am as a football player and that makes the game 1,000 times slower. When I\u2019m able to have the game slow down, play confident and play free, that\u2019s when I\u2019m at my best football version of myself.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Barron has been in on nine tackles in the preseason games, and, according to Pro Football Focus,<\/a> 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\u2019s new coverages, evidenced by the big day against the Rams in the joined workout Aug. 11.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like I\u2019ve grown into the role of playing linebacker,\u201d Barron said. \u201cEspecially in this defensive system we\u2019re 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. \u2026 The things I was good at (as a safety), it just translates to playing in the box.\u201d<\/p>\n

As Barron is learning, there\u2019s a lot that comes with \u201cwearing The Star,\u201d on the Cowboys\u2019 iconic helmet. Though the franchise, called \u201cAmerica\u2019s Team\u201d as the NFL soared in popularity during the 1960s and 70s, has not been to a Super Bowl since winning it in 1996, it remains one of the most followed sports franchises there is.\u00a0 And it\u2019s a place where Barron, a football guy\u2019s football guy, is proving he belongs.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe closest thing I can think of to it would be being like a Yankees player,\u201d Barron said. \u201cIt\u2019s a very similar type of culture. The Cowboys and the Yankees are the two biggest sports brands in the world. Everyone always talks about faith, family and football \u2014 those are the three pillars. They live and breath it down here.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It was only a practice session, very early in training camp. That\u2019s the way an entrenched NFL veteran…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":416151,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[7581,20689,57210,21893,1044,144962,102,104,103,20584,60742,251,10063,41450,80,31192,10249,144960,144961,3124],"class_list":["post-416150","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-dallas","tag-brian-schottenheimer","tag-cardinals","tag-christian-parker","tag-connecticut","tag-cowboys","tag-ctnews","tag-dallas","tag-dallas-headlines","tag-dallas-news","tag-hartford-courant","tag-justin-barron","tag-local-news","tag-matthew-stafford","tag-max-image-preview","tag-nfl","tag-rams","tag-seahawks","tag-suffield-academy","tag-syracuse-football","tag-uconn"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416150","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=416150"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416150\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/416151"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=416150"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=416150"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=416150"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}