Shaquil Barrett signed with the Miami Dolphins in March but stunned folks by announcing his retirement from the NFL in July.
Barrett remains happily retired, but according to him, one “perfect scenario” exists that could convince him to come out of retirement — even if it’s an unlikely one.
It wouldn’t involve him landing with the Dolphins, who still own his rights.
SHAQ BARRETT RETURNS??!!
👀 😱 🙌 lfgggggg
pic.twitter.com/MoGszVyMZU— Kay Adams (@heykayadams) August 29, 2024
“(There’s) one scenario that might be able to bring me out of retirement,” Barrett said. “Like a perfect, perfect scenario, but I don’t think it’s gonna happen, so, and I’m not expecting it to happen. I mean, if it happened, I would let y’all know, but I don’t wanna put it out there, nah, ’cause I’m really happy with my decision to not play football no more. But, yeah, it’s one perfect scenario that could happen.”
He revealed a little more.
“It’s a location and a team,” he said of the scenario. “It ain’t got nothin’ to do with winnin’ a Super Bowl. … It’s just one team that I’d come out of retirement for. Just one team — that’s it.”
Barrett later revealed that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are the team in question. He spent five seasons of his NFL career as a member of the Buccaneers.
“I got a lot of history down there,” Barrett said when reflecting on his stint with the Buccaneers. “And, yeah, then all this stuff that happened with my daughter and stuff, how they came through for the family, even when I was on my — I had like two years left on my contract — I told my wife, like, ‘Yeah, Tampa, I’d do anything for them. I’d take pay cuts for Tampa.'”
He continued.
“The way they showed up for my family and stuff like that, it just meant so much to me, and it was highly unexpected,” he said.
Barrett had a two-year-old daughter who tragically died after she drowned in a swimming pool at Barrett’s house in Tampa Bay back in April of 2023. Clearly, Tampa Bay did a lot to help his family get through that difficult time.
The 31-year-old played a grand total of nine seasons in the NFL with the Buccaneers as well as the Denver Broncos.
During his tenure in the NFL, he won a pair of Super Bowls and was also selected to play in the Pro Bowl on two occasions.
Interestingly, Barrett saved one of the best seasons of his NFL career for his swan song in the league. In the 2023 regular season, he totaled 33 solo tackles, 19 assisted tackles, 52 combined tackles, nine quarterback hits, three tackles for loss and 4.5 sacks across 16 games played (all starts).
Barrett finished with the most assisted tackles in any single season of his career, and he also racked up his third-most combined tackles and fifth-most solo tackles.
But he also had some other seasons earlier in his career that were particularly dominant, like when he had 19.5 sacks in the 2019 season and 10 sacks in the 2021 season.
The fact that the Dolphins own Barrett’s rights might complicate any attempt for him to come out of retirement and suit up for the Buccaneers.
However, Barrett’s recent words imply that he thinks he still has what it takes to contribute to an NFL team, even with all the miles he has on his body. Perhaps he will find himself with the Buccaneers again in the future if the stars align.
