If the Tampa Bay Buccaneers run short on edge rushers in 2024, they now know they have a familiar face to turn to.
Call it a “shatter in case of emergency” option off the edge.
Appearing on the “Up & Adams Show” with host Kay Adams on Aug. 29, former Tampa Bay outside linebacker Shaquil Barrett said he would consider coming out of retirement to play for the Buccaneers and no one else.
Barrett played five seasons for the Buccaneers and was released in March 2024. The same day he was released, Barrett signed a 1-year, $7 million contract with the Miami Dolphins. In a surprise move, Barrett announced his retirement on July 22, just days before he was to report to training camp.
“There’s one team I would come out of retirement for, and that’s it,” Barrett said. “… I’m happily retired, but if something was to happen … if the perfect scenario was to happen and I wouldn’t do it for any other team. I just have a lot of history (with Tampa Bay) and everything that happened with my daughter and how they came through for my family … I told my wife I’d take pay cuts or anything for Tampa because of what they did for my family. Tampa has a special place in my heart.”
In April 2023, Barrett’s 2-year-old daughter, Arrayah, died after drowning in the pool at the family’s home in South Tampa.
From Undrafted to One of NFL’s Elite Players
Barrett started his college career at Nebraska-Omaha then transferred to Colorado State after Nebraska-Omaha disbanded its football program in 2010. He was named the Mountain West Conference Defensive Player of the Year in 2013 after he finished the season with 12.0 sacks and 20.5 tackles for loss.
Barrett spent 2014 on the Broncos’ practice squad and active roster but didn’t play any games as an undrafted free agent then made the opening day roster and started 6 games in 2015, including a Super Bowl win over the Carolina Panthers.
Barrett signed a 1-year, $5 million contract with the Buccaneers in 2019 and put together one of the greatest seasons for a pass rusher in NFL history when he led the league with 19.5 sacks on the way to earning NFL All-Pro honors for the only time in his career.
Barrett played on the franchise tag for Tampa Bay in 2020 and helped lead the team to a Super Bowl win. He signed a 4-year, $68 million contract with the Buccaneers in March 2021.
Barrett, who will turn 32 years old in November, has 59 career sacks and 22 forced fumbles, along with Tampa Bay franchise records for single-season sacks, single-game sacks (4) and single-game forced fumbles (2).
Buccaneers Don’t Have Proven Pass Rushers
After putting up 10.0 sacks in 2021, Barrett only had 7.5 sacks over the last two seasons — he also missed 9 games in 2022.
That inefficiency — and unavailability — led the Buccaneers to look elsewhere for help with edge rushers. In 2023, that meant rookie linebacker and third-round pick YaYa Diaby, who led Tampa Bay with 7.5 sacks despite playing in only 46 percent of his team’s defensive snaps.
The Buccaneers also hope to get a lift from defensive tackle Calijah Kancey, the team’s first-round pick in 2023, and 2024 second-round pick Chris Braswell, an outside linebacker from Alabama who had 8.0 sacks, 10.0 TFL and 3 forced fumbles in 2023.
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