Ravens Insider: Shaq Barrett, Baltimore native and 2-time Super Bowl champion, retires

[ExtremeRavens]

MIAMI — Shaquil Barrett, a two-time Pro Bowl selection who was expected to log significant playing time for the Miami Dolphins while their two starting outside linebackers recover from injuries, delivered stunning news Saturday when he announced his retirement at age 31.

His exit — three days before the start of training camp — leaves Miami without a healthy veteran outside linebacker on its roster.

“It’s time for me to hang it up,” Barrett said in a statement on Instagram. “It’s been a great ride and I appreciate everything that came with it over the years. I’m ready to shift my full focus to my wife and kids and helping them realize [their] dreams and catch ’em.

“Anyone who caught their dreams before know the work, time and consistency required to reach them. I’m ready to start building them skills up in my kids, which will take 100% commitment. [I know] to some it’ll be a surprise but I’ve been thinking about this for a while and the decision has never been more clear than it is now.”

In April 2023, Barrett’s 2-year-old daughter, Arrayah, drowned in a swimming pool at the family’s home in the Beach Park neighborhood in south Tampa, Florida. Barrett and his wife, Jordanna, have three other children.

A Baltimore native, Barrett played for the rec-league Charm City Buccaneers at Leon Day Park and later at City College until 2008, when he left to go to Boys Town High, a private boarding school in Omaha, Nebraska. He started his college career at Nebraska-Omaha, but the school dropped its football program after his freshman year, so he transferred to Colorado State. Barrett started three seasons for the Rams and recorded a Mountain West Conference-record 20 1/2 tackles for loss as a senior.

“Growing up in Baltimore is an experience I wouldn’t take back or trade for anything,” he told The Baltimore Sun in February 2021. “It’s dog-eat-dog. You’ve got to grow up fast. When you’re in Baltimore, that’s normal, just part of the culture there. It makes you tough-skinned. … It makes you focus on yourself and not let too much outside criticism bring you down or too much outside positivity take you up. You’ve got to stay even-keeled through everything.”

Even with Barrett, the Dolphins already were thin at outside linebacker because starters Jaelan Phillips and Bradley Chubb are recovering from major injuries and will begin training camp on the physically unable to perform list.

The Dolphins figure to be able to recoup Barrett’s $5.5 million signing bonus because he never played a down for the team after signing a one-year deal that could have been worth up to $9 million with incentives. Miami also could get back $7 million in cap space; the Dolphins currently have $12 million in cap space, per Over The Cap.

Undrafted out of Colorado State, Barrett finished his career with 59 sacks, 22 forced fumbles, 400 tackles and 73 tackles for loss in nine seasons — the first five with the Broncos and the past four with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

The two-time Super Bowl champion was a Pro Bowl selection in 2019 and 2021 and a second-team All Pro in 2019. He led the NFL with 19 1/2 sacks in 2019, his first with Tampa Bay after leaving Denver to sign a one-year deal with the Buccaneers.

Barrett had 52 tackles (including three for loss) and 4 1/2 sacks, an interception and three forced fumbles in 16 games for Tampa Bay last season, all starts. Pro Football Focus ranked Barrett 42nd among 112 edge defenders last season.

He played in only eight games in 2022 because of a torn Achilles tendon suffered 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 Top 100. He was released by Tampa Bay on Feb. 24, three years into a four-year, $72 million contract extension.

Baltimore Sun staff contributed to this article.

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