7 overreactions to Tampa Bay Buccaneers start of season

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TAMPA, FLORIDA – SEPTEMBER 22: Shaquil Barrett #58 of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers reacts after sacking Daniel Jones #8 of the New York Giants (not pictured) during the fourth quarter at Raymond James Stadium on September 22, 2019 in Tampa, Florida. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images) /

Shaquil Barrett is going to break the single season sack record

With eight sacks through the first three weeks of this 2019 season, Shaquil Barrett is on pace to shatter the single season sack record held by Michael Strahan. However, it is time to slow the roll here as well as Barrett cannot be expected to keep up the pace of three or more sacks per outing.

Even a sack per game for the rest of the season would be impressive for Barrett in his first year as a Buccaneer. Him and Nassib are the perfect duo as his running mate tends to push pressure right into Barrett’s lap, but expecting Barrett to keep up this pace is severely unrealistic.

Regardless, Barrett is on pace for a massive pay day, upwards of $20 million annually, and for his first Pro Bowl appearance of his career after playing his first four years as a Denver Bronco. In fact, Barrett has performed so well that the Buccaneers have now made last year’s sack leader Jason Pierre-Paul expendable as they have restructured his deal to lower his base pay and end his contract after the 2019 season.

Expect the Buccaneers to try their hardest to keep Barrett in the pewter and red for as long as possible, even if that means paying him a ton of money. He has been worth every penny to this point, but expecting him to break a league record is a hard feat to pressure onto a player.

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