Shaquil Barrett’s agent speaks on Dolphins’ decision not to activate him from reserve/retired list

Drew Rosenhaus, the agent of pass rusher Shaquil Barrett, shared his side of the story of the Miami Dolphins’ decision not to activate Barrett from the reserve/retired list this season.

Barrett signed a deal with the Dolphins in the offseason, but he decided to retire. Miami still holds the pass rusher’s rights, but it has opted not to have him play for the team in the 2024 campaign.

“I called the Dolphins on Monday, and I spoke to Chris Grier,” Rosenhaus said. “And I told Chris that Shaq wanted to come out of retirement, and he wanted to play for them. Chris said they would talk about it, would make a decision, get back to me.

“I’m not going to get into the reasons – that’s really up to them to articulate. But what did frustrate me was there were reports in the media – I’m not sure where they came from – that said the Dolphins found out from the media that Shaq was coming out of retirement. That is not true. I spoke to Chris Grier on Monday. We emailed the commissioner. The Dolphins made their decision. Shaq would still like to play this year. He can’t play for the Dolphins. The Dolphins do have the ability to waive him at this point – or at any point the rest of the season – and he’d be able to play for somebody else. But that’s their decision moving forward.”

If the Dolphins don’t want Barrett to play for them this season, it also doesn’t make much sense for the team to waive him. If Barrett is waived, he could sign on with another playoff contender and potentially compete against the Dolphins this season.

So, Miami may want to hold onto the veteran in order to avoid giving an advantage to one of its opponents.

A two-time Super Bowl champion, Barrett spent the last five seasons with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers after beginning his career with the Denver Broncos.

The veteran started 16 games for Tampa Bay last season, recording 52 tackles, three tackles for loss and 4.5 sacks. For his career, Barrett has 59 sacks in 131 games (85 starts).

Back in the 2019 season, Barrett led the league with 19.5 sacks. He earned an All-Pro nod for the first time in his career that season and finished fourth in the voting for the Defensive Player of the Year award.

The Dolphins currently are 5-7 in the 2024 season and are in danger of missing the playoffs for the first time in the Mike McDaniel era.

Miami lost its last game on Thanksgiving against the Green Bay Packers. In Week 14, the Dolphins will host the struggling New York Jets, who dropped their ninth game of the 2024 season in Week 13.

It’ll be interesting to see if the Dolphins change their mind and waive Barrett to allow him to play in the 2024 season.