With Phillips and Chubb on mend, Dolphins add veteran outside linebacker Shaq Barrett
The Dolphins - who entered Tuesday without a single established and healthy edge rusher on their roster - added a decorated one on Tuesday when they agreed to terms with Tampa Bay outside linebacker Shaquil Barrett.
He agreed to a one-year deal that could be worth up to $9 million, per his agents Drew Rosenhaus and Robert Bailey.
Undrafted out of Colorado State, Barrett has 59 career sacks, 22 forced fumbles, 400 tackles and 73 tackles for loss in nine seasons -- the first five for Denver and the past four for Tampa Bay.
The two-time Super Bowl winner was a Pro Bowler in 2019 and 2021 and a second-team All Pro in 2019. He led the league with 19.5 sacks in 2019, his first with Tampa after leaving Denver to sign a one-year deal with the Buccaneers.
Barrett, 31, can fill in for starters Bradley Chubb and Jaelan Phillips early in the season if they need more time to recover from late-season ACL and Achilles’ injuries.
When healthy, Barrett projects as Miami’s No. 3 edge player. He has started the last 70 games in which he has appeared, all for Tampa Bay.
With Andrew Van Ginkel committing to join the Minnesota Vikings, the only other veteran edge player under contract to Miami, Cameron Goode, also isn’t certain to begin next season on time because of a patellar tendon injury.
The 6-2, 250-pound Barrett had 52 tackles (including three for loss) and 4.5 sacks, an interception and three forced fumbles in 16 games for Tampa Bay last season, all starts.
Pro Football Focus rated Barrett 42nd among 112 edge defenders last season.
He played in only eight games in 2022 because of a torn Achilles tendon sustained in Week 8.
But he had 10 sacks in 15 games 2021. After that season, he was ranked 86th by his fellow players on the NFL’s list of top 100 player for 2022.
He was released by Tampa on Feb. 24, three years into a four-year, $72 million contract extension.
“Shaq has been great for us over the past five years,” Tampa Bay coach Todd Bowles said on NFL Network after Barrett’s release. “He came in, he made a heck of a name for himself. He’s one of the best human beings you could ever meet, and he’s still got some great playing abilities left in him.”
Because he was a “street free agent,” he won’t count against the compensatory draft pick formula - which will help Miami’s efforts to land mid-round draft picks in the 2025 draft.
This story was originally published March 12, 2024 at 11:53 AM.
