Shaq Barrett & The Front Office
September 21st, 2019
Two games into linebacker Shaq Barrett’s Tampa Bay career and he’s a local hero with four total sacks.
What will he be in January? An 7 1/2-sack guy? Maybe 10 or 12 sacks?
Joe can guarantee one thing. Barrett, if he’s healthy after this season and has at least seven sacks, he will become a very, very rich man. Far wealthier than the $4 million he’ll earn this season. Pass rushers under 30 — Barrett is 26 — get monster contracts.
So where does the Bucs front office go from here?
Do they study Barrett through the next four games and try to re-sign him early and get value by waving guaranteed money in front of his face?
Or, do they acknowledge that they’re not going to pay him in 2020 and try to trade him before the late-October deadline to a contender for a third-round draft pick? Or do they just wait and see?
The good front offices have a plan and always seem to make a lot of wise decisions and know when to make their move.
When it comes to their Super-Bowl-building plan, Joe’s very curious to see how the Bucs approach Barrett, another free agent to be Carl Nassib, and the mystery of Jason Pierre-Paul, along with emerging rookie linebacker Anthony Nelson.
Derrick Brooks sits down for PART II of TAMPA TWO with Hall of Fame Sage Ira Kaufman. It’s your Giants-Bucs preview edition, presented by Caldeco Air Conditioning & Heating. A production of The Identity Tampa Bay and JoeBucsFan.com.
September 21st, 2019 at 11:47 am
I think Nassib has looked good in setting edges but not as a pass rusher. God forbid the Bucs trading Barrett for anything. Unless we lose all our games prior to week 8
September 21st, 2019 at 12:10 pm
The Giants are said to have a good offensive line. Here’s hoping Barrett can muscle himself into a sack or two tomorrow.
September 21st, 2019 at 12:19 pm
If Shaq proves to be the pass rusher this team needs then PAY THE MAN!!! They’ll have 65M next year.
September 21st, 2019 at 12:19 pm
At this point I would rather see them sign Barrett and release JPP. Even if Barrett is only a 7 or 8 sack guy he has better long-term value than JPP. I’m not confident JPP can make a full recovery.
September 21st, 2019 at 12:26 pm
Face it Joe, the Bucs will have several VERY hard choices to make when this season ends. IF we re-sign Jameis (long-term or franchise him) for say $30 mil or so, PLUS honor the existing contracts of our key offensive players (ME13, Marpet, Donovan, etc) then we’ll be exactly where we are today … AT BEST … in terms of salary Cap. Re-signing guys like Barrett & Suh will require some VERY hard choices.
Our defense right now is carrying this team, yet salary-Cap-wise we’re #28 in the NFL at $54.4 mil with 23 players counting against that. The teams below us? Packers, Giants, Chiefs, Raiders … all defensive giants (not). The #16 team in terms of defensive cost is the Buffalo Bills at $72.0 mil. That’s where I’d expect the Bucs defense to be next year, and INCREASE of $17.6 mil, IF we end up in the Top-16 in terms of POINTS ALLOWED this year. Guys will expect to be paid, and rightfully so. And if DEFENSE becomes the Bucs’ identity (once again), the money to pay for that defense has to come from the offense. And guess what … it should. Bucs’ offense is definitely overpaid for what they’ve been producing.
September 21st, 2019 at 12:29 pm
A lot will depend on JPPs health as the trade deadline approaches.
If JPP is definitely getting close to coming back a month from now – you have to listen to offers for a guy like Barrett…
We won’t be able to re-sign Barrett next year – that’s pretty much a given.
JPP is under contract for $12.5M in 2020. That’s a bargain if he’s healthy.
Shaq Barrett will get at least $15M per year if he gets double digit sacks in 2019 which looks quite likely.
Although – if Licht can manage our free agency “gains” and “losses” correctly, there’s no need to trade Barrett this year – as we would likely net a 3rd or 4th rd comp pick if he leaves in free agency and signs a big contract elsewhere…
September 21st, 2019 at 12:44 pm
Shaq attack! Shaq the quarterback!
September 21st, 2019 at 12:47 pm
Ya gotta give him a few weeks at least. Teams will throw more blocking at him now so he still has more to proove.
But we all know he will live up to the challenge then I say you gotta try to work out a deal. We all just celebrated a 10;sack guy last year like he was the second coming. That alone should tell ya how hard it is to find Edge rushers.
September 21st, 2019 at 12:58 pm
Pickgrin…..I do not see how it’s a given we cannot resign Barrett.
I’m not sure JPPs guaranteed money but some were saying to drop him this year for savings. That could be a option next year.
Or how about letting LDV walk…….which I don’t like to say but long-term it makes some sense.
How about use Suhs and Perrimans moey to sign Shaq?
Jensen is off the books next year. Not sure if he’ll get another 10M+ contract & you got Dotson who I doubt gets paid close to 5.
Hargreaves is making 10M next year too. That could be a plan.
Lot of options bro……….But sorry to annoy everybody with dump ol CAP conversations about 2020 when we got a game tomorrow………..Bad topic for the day before a game if you ask me.
September 21st, 2019 at 1:02 pm
Can we just have fun this year watching this D.
Roster will change again next year and Bucs will allocate resources where they prioritize. At least now Bucs have a defense and running game which have both been absent for a long time- fun to watch!
September 21st, 2019 at 1:20 pm
I doubt we would sign Barrett, JPP & Nassib……my guess is that one would be let go…..Nelson could make that a certainty if he plays well…..
As far as trading Barrett this year……nope….let him go for big bucks and get a comp pick…..the same could happen with Nassib…
September 21st, 2019 at 1:23 pm
The Giants are going to play Shaq one on one until he proves he can beat it on them. Suh or Vea, one of the two, will be doubled already. If Shaq can beat his man early they’ll have to chip a TE or leave him in to block. If they do that it will limit Jones options in the passing game. When we blitz, Barkley will have to pick it up, thus one less target. I expect to see a few double A-gap blitzes this game to see how the Giants react to it.
September 21st, 2019 at 1:26 pm
The Giants will run a lot of screen plays to Barkley to keep Jones comfortable and help use our blitz against us.
September 21st, 2019 at 2:17 pm
Well they let Micheal Bennett go for a chicken nugget happy meal. So I won’t be stunned if they drop another “bonehead” move like that with Shaq.
September 21st, 2019 at 4:14 pm
let’s just imagine sack barrett gets like 29 sacks this year…
how cool would that be
September 21st, 2019 at 4:57 pm
The QB is Shaq’ed!
September 21st, 2019 at 5:21 pm
If Shaq is has 10 or more sacks by midseason, I would think that it’s a no brainer that we would sign him, but with our front office, who knows?
September 21st, 2019 at 5:31 pm
Here goes the bandwagon mindset again. Shaq had one great gamw, and suddenly he’s too important to risk losing.
Give it some games, people. Make him prove he is consistent before giving him the key to the city.
September 21st, 2019 at 5:37 pm
I would hesitate to get rid of Jensen next year, unless we draft a center in the first round. Fans a?ways forget how hard it is to find a good center. Every time we find one and lose him, we end up going years trying to replace him with another good one.
Jensen may not be elite, but he is solid.
September 21st, 2019 at 5:47 pm
Barber won’t be resigned next year. We have a bunch of guys on one year deals. Suh will likely be replaced somehow. Dotson has this year left in him at best.
Cap-wise, we have everyone we need under contract for this season. If we’re in the same boat next year, then we’ll have everyone we need, even if it’s different players.
Winston won’t get franchised. He either earns a contract or he doesn’t. I think he will.
Mike Evans could be trade bait if our younger WRs step up. He is very pricey and we could get high draft picks for him.
Plenty of ways to free up cap money if needed.
September 21st, 2019 at 6:05 pm
This is why they signed a bunch of guys to one year deals. Pay the best move on from the rest
September 21st, 2019 at 7:03 pm
Shaq is gonna have at least 13 saqs barring injury.
September 21st, 2019 at 7:10 pm
If Shaq, Nassib, and others have a great season and will be commanding top dollar, that’s a good problem to have. Would you rather have a stable full of thoroughbreds that yo have to choose from, because you can’t afford them all, or a pasture full of nags that you CAN afford?
September 21st, 2019 at 9:23 pm
Let’s get into the season some before we talk trading talent away by Halloween.
September 21st, 2019 at 9:42 pm
Whatever happens iam sure Licht will screw it up.
September 21st, 2019 at 9:44 pm
The glazers will tell Licht to let him walk for no good reason….. and they’ll also tell Licht take the blame…..and he will
September 21st, 2019 at 10:49 pm
Wait, you just assumed the Bucs wouldn’t be a contender?
September 22nd, 2019 at 5:35 am
I hope we draft 4 D-lineman next year.
2 OLB/DE like Barrett.
Another NT like Suh.
Another DE like Gholston.
And Another DT like Suh.
I am starting to love Licht’s depth at DB.
Next year, we should stack up on D-lineman.
September 22nd, 2019 at 6:56 am
I just wanted to say that I enjoy this column. And I equally appreciate the comment section here as well. Even the cheese wiz remarks are there to add flavor. But overall I’m regularly impressed with the quality of the discussions. Go Bucs.