The Tampa Bay Buccaneers plan to release outside linebacker, Shaquil Barrett, owner of the team's single-season sack record (19.5) and a pass-rushing force on the franchise's Super Bowl LV-winning run, a move head coach Todd Bowles described as a hard but necessary decision.
Barrett, who had a $15.04 million option bonus due next month, will be designated as a post-June 1 cut when the new league year begins on March 13.
Over five seasons with the Bucs, the 31-year-old went to two Pro Bowls and finished fourth in the 2019 Defensive Player of the Year voting. But Barrett tallied just a combined 7.5 sacks over the last two seasons, the last of which was played coming off a torn Achilles. Cutting ties with the nine-year pro, painful as it is, saves Tampa Bay roughly $5 million in much-needed 2024 salary cap space ahead of a crucial upcoming free-agency period.
"It's never a seamless move," Bowles said Tuesday on Good Morning Football from the NFL scouting combine.
"...From a business side, in order for us to get better and bring in new talent and upgrade the team, we have to get some of these things done, and they're hard decisions, but Shaq has been great for us over the past five years. He came in, [and] 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."
Tampa Bay overachieved in the first year of the post-Tom Brady era, winning the NFC South and a playoff game. As soon as the season ended, though, the number crunching began.
The team's long list of soon-to-be free agents includes quarterback Baker Mayfield, wide receiver Mike Evans, safety Antoine Winfield Jr., linebackers Devin White and Lavonte David, kicker Chase McLaughlin—and the list goes on.
Moving on from Barrett, who signed a four-year, $72 million deal in 2021, is just one step in ensuring the Bucs can retain their corps.
As of Monday, the Buccaneers have a little over $43 million in cap space available, per Over The Cap. Not bad. In fact, it's projected to be the 10th-most in the NFL. But bringing back a QB off a career year, a wide receiver who just posted yet another 1,000-yard season and led the league in receiving touchdowns, and an All-Pro defensive back—just for starters—isn't going to be cheap.
And the Bucs are well aware.
If the Bucs can re-sign all their key free agents, general manager Jason Licht told reporters Tuesday in Indianapolis, "we should be throwing another boat parade."
Winfield is a likely candidate to receive the franchise tag (at a cost of $17 million), per the Tampa Bay Times, ensuring the 25-year-old doesn't become one of the best players on the open market.
As for Mayfield, finding a common contract ground remains an "extremely high priority" to the Bucs, as is making sure their all-time leading receiver doesn't wear another uniform.
"We love Baker," Bowles said Tuesday. "Baker had a heck of a year. He fit in with us. All the way through, the chemistry was outstanding with him and all the receivers and the offense as a whole. Hope to build on that. I understand the business side of it...Hope things work out."
Bowles added: "[Evans] had a heck of a year, and he's been doing it for a decade now. Obviously, we want him to retire as a Buc, and everything we're trying to do—put all our resources into signing him back as well because he's great for the community, he's great for the team, he's great for the guys. He's a heck of a ball player."
Contract negotiations between the 28-year-old QB—who set career-highs in touchdown passes and completion percentage in his first year with Tampa Bay—and the Bucs are officially underway. Evans, meanwhile, is back at the table after financial talks stalled with the team before the 2023 season, a campaign that saw the 30-year-old continue to produce at a level few in the league could match. Headway could be made during combine week.
Spotrac lists Mayfield's market value at $27.1 million in average salary. Evans is close behind at $23.8 million. The Pro Bowl signal-caller said at the end of the season it would "mean a lot" for him to run things back in Tampa Bay—Evans and other key pieces included. Tampa's former No. 7 overall pick receiver said about a month ago he'd "love to be back."
As the news of Barrett's roster transaction Tuesday showed, the Bucs will run through the necessary salary cap gymnastics to make those things happen.
And perhaps when free agency begins in just over two weeks, Tampa Bay can set itself up to best compete for a fourth-straight division title. That, potentially, could even include a reunion with Barrett on a cheaper deal. The former undrafted free agent anticipated the possibility of his release this offseason because of his price tag, saying last month he understands "it's a business" but that he would like to remain in Tampa Bay.
Barrett's wife, Jordanna, shared in an Instagram post that Tampa "will forever hold such a special place in my heart" and that the family doesn't know what's next. But Bowles, per the NFL, didn't fully close the door on bringing the fan-favorite back.
"These tough decisions have to be made for us to move on," Bowles said of Barrett, who tallied three sacks against the Green Bay Packers in the 2020 season's NFC Championship Game and another against the Kansas City Chiefs in the Super Bowl. "He understands that, and we understand that. And who knows, we'll see what happens down the line."
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Robert Read is a Sports Reporter at Newsweek based in Florida. He previously spent four years working at The Daily ... Read more
