Most Interesting Prospects: Texas defensive back Jahdae Barron

The Packers broke decades of tradition when they took Jaire Alexander in the first round of the 2018 NFL Draft. 26 years after the franchise was burned by Terrell Buckley (who, for the record, went on to a fairly productive NFL career), they selected Alexander, the diminutive defensive back out of Louisville.

Seven years later, they now find themselves nearing the apparent end of the Alexander era in Green Bay, which means it must be time to nab another undersized defensive back. The cycle must continue, and the man to continue it is Texas defensive back Jahdae Barron.

Jokes aside, I don’t know if it would be wise for the Packers to go with a defensive back in the first round. Their needs are deeper elsewhere, and whatever problems they may have at corner will be at least somewhat addressed by the Nate Hobbs signing this offseason and could be further helped by resolving their standoff with Alexander. They might be wiser to roll the dice on a different defensive position, like the defensive line or edge rusher, where they’re more likely to get the pick of the litter by going to those respective wells early.

But man, if they were to take a defensive back early, I’d love for it to be Barron.

Versatility shouldn’t be anyone’s primary calling card. It’s nice to be able to do a bunch of things and it’s never a bad thing if a player can line up and succeed at a few different positions. But I’d much rather a guy be able to perform at an elite level in one area than be merely competent to good in several.

Barron, however, is the exception that proves the rule. He’s both versatile and elite.

Primarily a slot corner in 2022 and 2023, Barron lined up all over the Texas defense in 2024, spending time as a wide corner, in the slot, in the box, and even as a deep safety. He can do it all, and did it well, logging a coverage grade of 91.1 according to Pro Football Focus and demonstrating noteworthy playmaking ability, too. He logged 35 career ballhawks (sacks, interceptions, passes defensed, and fumbles forced) in his college career, tenth best among the 28 cornerbacks I looked at in this class. Of those 28 corners, he’s the only one to couple that kind of productivity with that high of a coverage grade.

His size is a concern. There’s no two ways about it: Barron is small. Measuring just a quarter inch under 5-foot-11, Barron is the shortest corner ranked in the top 100 of the Mock Draft Database consensus big board as of mid-March. He’s also not particularly quick laterally; his 7.05 second time in the three-cone drill is hardly elite for a defensive back, particularly one of Barron’s size.

He can run, though. A 4.39 second time in the 40-yard dash is plenty fast, giving Barron interesting attack angles from wherever he lines up — and as we’ve established, he’s a threat to line up just about anywhere.

Most of the players in this series have been interesting apart from their fit with the Packers. I don’t think we need to focus on their Packers-specific projections for them to be interesting. But with Barron, I can’t help but consider his fit in Green Bay.

There are only five points in this trend (and three of them aren’t even corners), but I can’t help but note that the Packers have been careful to emphasize positional versatility among their recent significant additions to their defensive backfield. Safeties Xavier McKinney, Javon Bullard, and Evan Williams all have varied, overlapping skill sets and were used accordingly last year. At corner, Keisean Nixon can play both outside and inside, as can his new running mate Nate Hobbs. If the Packers were to add a defensive back, I have to think there’s a good chance it’s someone who looks a lot like Barron.

That’s not a prediction. This draft seems harder to predict than most, partly because the Packers are in the position of having needs, but not necessarily gaping holes in their lineup. Cornerback is one such spot: the Packers could use help there, but technically they have two, maybe three, starting caliber corners.

If they do feel they need to add a corner, though, someone with the versatility to help out at more than one spot seems like a great decision.