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Zaire Barnes, LB (No. 184)


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 According to @Beerfish

Zaire Barnes | LB | Western Michigan | 6’1”, 233 lbs | 40: 4.56 | Bench: 20 | Vert; 34” | Broad: 123” | Shuttle: 4.27 | 3-cone: 7.02

Round 6

No. 184 (via Patriots): Zaire Barnes, LB, Western Michigan

How he fits: Zach Rosenblatt’s analysis

The Jets needed some depth at linebacker, especially since they have yet to re-sign Kwon Alexander. Barnes projects as a special teams contributor, according to Brugler, with the potential for more. He’s athletic (4.54 40-yard dash) and has some potential in coverage. Brugler graded him as an undrafted free agent and the 29th-best linebacker overall.

Dane Brugler’s analysis

Barnes, who has an older brother (Zavier) who played linebacker at Saginaw Valley State, prepped at Carmel Catholic where he earned All-State honors as a running back and safety as a senior, finishing with 77 tackles and six touchdowns. A three-star athlete recruit, he had a host of MAC offers and committed to Western Michigan.

After a torn ACL sidelined him in 2020, he became a full-time starter at Sam linebacker in 2021 and had a career year as a senior with a team-best 93 tackles and nine passes defended. A high school safety, Barnes looks comfortable pedaling in reverse with the footwork to quickly gather and go. His read-react skills have gotten better as he has played more football. He would benefit with improved wrap technique but is generally a consistent tackler.

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He had an outstanding senior season, totaling ninety three tackles, which ranked first on the team, 4.5 tackles for loss, one sack, one interception, one forced fumble, and three forced fumbles. Declared for the 2023 NFL Draft. 

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Feel like linebackers are hard to draft, very instincts based position. Good area to rice it a shot. They love the former safeties but I’m glad this wasn’t a straight up conversion. We’ll see. They certainly need the depth and long term options, worth the dice roll.

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3 minutes ago, derp said:

Feel like linebackers are hard to draft, very instincts based position. Good area to rice it a shot. They love the former safeties but I’m glad this wasn’t a straight up conversion. We’ll see. They certainly need the depth and long term options, worth the dice roll.

He played Safety in high school.  So in a sense, he is another former safety.

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7 minutes ago, Lith said:

He played Safety in high school.  So in a sense, he is another former safety.

Yup, I wasn’t clear at all. I meant since he played safety in high school he fits their type of former safeties, but at least he played linebacker in college so they’re not making the safety to linebacker conversion at the NFL level.

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12 hours ago, football guy said:

Based on what JD and Saleh had to say about him post-draft, they don’t seem to be prioritizing Kwon/FA LBs. Said that Barnes, Sherwood, Nasirildeen, and Surratt would compete for first crack at the LB3 spot 

I actually loved the Surratt pickup last year as I wanted to take a crack at him in the draft that year.  I think i worked him into the 5th rd of every mock I did for the jets that year.  I would love to see him develop and steal that spot. 

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