Shaq Barrett: ‘I Still Got A Lot To Prove’ With The Dolphins
Shaq Barrett says he wasn’t surprised the Bucs cut him in spite of his promise to make them regret it.
As Tampa Bay bent over backwards to retain Mike Evans and Baker Mayfield, others were always going to be sacrificed.
Shaq Barrett spent five successful seasons with the Buccaneers. The 31-year-old pass rusher went to the Pro Bowl twice, won a Super Bowl and led the NFL in sacks in 2019.
However, Shaq Barrett only had 4.5 sacks in 16 games last season. That combined with his $14.1 million salary cap number meant he was a prime candidate to be cut.
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“Depending on if we’re going to be a Super Bowl contender and I played good, then there was a chance I was going to stay, but if I played like the season I had, I knew they had to pay people and I was going to be a potential cut, so I was preparing my family for pretty much the whole year, honestly,” Barrett said.
Despite finishing below his highest ever sack number for a season (19.5 in 2019), Barrett still sets ‘lofty’ goals.
“Every year I will never reach my goals obviously because my goals are 23 sacks,” he said. “I want to break the record every year.”
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Now a Miami Dolphin, Barrett has an additional goal – make the Bucs regret cutting him.
“I still got a lot to prove,” he said. “Especially getting cut from another team. That adds another whole fuel to the fire right there. The Dolphins are going to be happy they signed me. Tampa is going to be mad they let me go because this year that I’m planning on having and the success that we’re about to have as a team is going to be amazing.”
