Earlier this year, former Tampa Bay Buccaneers Super Bowl champion Shaq Barrett announced intentions to continue his career. He's trying to make good on that, but not with the right team.
Well, any team would be the right one for Barrett as he's simply looking to get his foot back in the door ahead of Week 8. That's evidenced by the fact that he worked out for the Indianapolis Colts this week alongside a practice squad player who has already been cut once this year.
No disrespect to defensive end Seth Coleman, but he's not Shaq Barrett. And similarly, no disrespect to the Colts -- who have the best record in the NFL -- but they're not as good or obvious a fit for Barrett as the Bucs are.
How he didn't get that first tryout with Tampa Bay is beyond absurd, but perhaps a workout with the Bucs is still in his future.
Shaq Barrett is a no-brainer signing for the Buccaneers
We don't need to overthink this, Shaq should be back with the Bucs. Strike that, he needs to be back with Tampa Bay as he'd help fill a key positional need at exactly the right time.
Barrett might be running on the drops of gas left in his tank, but that's still an upgrade over the situation the Bucs are dealing with now. Calijah Kancey is out for the season, Haason Reddick is hurt and the team isn't exactly sure how badly, and the pass rush is suddenly back to where it was last year -- see also: not a good place.
The Bucs ranked 11th in pass rush but that's even worse than it sounds. Situationally the lack of an ability to get hands on the quarterback late in games put even more pressure on an already exasperated secondary which led to Tampa Bay going 2-6 in one-score games, including the Wild Card loss to the Commanders.
Barrett returned to the Bucs last year after coming out of retirement but it was far too late in the season for him to have a real impact. This time around the Bucs just as big of a pass rush need but more time to get him up to speed.
It's a risk, as Barrett's best seasons are behind him but his most recent ones were in Tampa Bay. More than just the impact he had on the field -- from his 19.5 sack season in 2019 to helping the Bucs win a Super Bowl a year later -- Barrett brings some much-needed veteran leadership to the locker room.
Tampa Bay just lost Mike Evans for what could be the remainder of the season, and getting another voice like his in the locker room at a time like this is critical. Barrett fits the bill, and the bonus of being able to have an impact on defense makes bringing him in make even more sense than it already did.