“I Would Be Surprised If Shaq Barrett Left The Bucs”
March 12th, 2021
The latest on Shaq Barrett.
For intel on the biggest stories in the NFL, why not go to NFL Network lead reporter Ian Rapoport?
That’s just what Rich Eisen did Thursday.
Yesterday, Rapoport was on “The Rich Eisen Show” seen on Peacock. There Rapoport was talking all things Bucs free agency and contract negotiations. Joe knows who Rapoport talks to, so this is very interesting to Joe.
Now Rapoport did not specify if his latest intel was coming from Bucs sources or from oily Drew Rosenhaus (or perhaps, both?) but Rapoport was bullish on the chances of Tampa Bay re-signing Bucs sack king Shaq Barrett to help their quest to repeat as Super Bowl champs.
“Everyone involved hopes it is with the Bucs,” Rapoport said of Shaq’s employer in 2021. “He is a great player. He had found himself with Tampa Bay.
“So like, he is going to make a lot of money anyway, and the Bucs have some [salary cap] gymnastics involved to make it happen, but, why would he want to leave? Right?”
The trick is, does Rosenhaus want that to happen in Tampa Bay, which is why Joe wonders if this intel of Rapoport’s is coming from Rosenhaus or someone who has an office at One Buc Palace?
Rapoport believes it is beneficial to Shaq’s career to stay in Tampa Bay.
“If I was a pass rusher in Todd Bowles’ defense, I would never want to leave,” Rapoport said. “You know, he gets the most out of guys and he helps them be really productive.
“To me, I would be surprised if Shaq Barrett left the Bucs. That would be a pretty surprising free agent development.”
Now there is a lot of chatter in NFL circles that the coordinator of color who got hosed by the weird NFL coaching hire rules at the end of the day wasn’t media darling, Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy, but Bowles.
If the Bucs have another successful season defensively, Bowles may be one of the first coordinators plucked to run a team in 2022. So selling Shaq on Bowles as a carrot to stay with the Bucs might be a hard sell.
(Graphic courtesy of Outside Leverage.)
March 12th, 2021 at 12:24 am
The jury is still out on Shaq signing or not because we have not heard anything concerning what Brady is going to do as far as an extension. Bring back the big Shaq attack – keep the defensive front seven intact. GO BUCS!!!!!
March 12th, 2021 at 12:41 am
Bucco Bruce already told us during the parade that Shaq’s ass ain’t goin’ no where. That’s all i needed
March 12th, 2021 at 12:43 am
What the Bucs should do is call up the Lightning cap guys and let them go over everything since every single year we hear about the Lightning are going to have to be blown up because of the cap, and yet year after year, they manage to keep it together somehow.
March 12th, 2021 at 12:45 am
He hesitated
March 12th, 2021 at 12:48 am
You just said it ..!
In Todd Bowles defense. If your a pass rusher you’ll never want to leave. Bowles will MAKE YOU PRODUCTIVE.
meaning = any pass rusher will be successful. Arians knows it. Bowles knows it. That’s why Godwin and David are signed.
March 12th, 2021 at 12:52 am
Could be in response to my comments about Gronk. If all money was equal no,I’d rather have shaq is push came to shove, especially long term. Just going to be hard to fit him in if he’s at 20 mil. Gronk will be less than half. I can buy the argument we don’t win without shaq. I do think gronks 2 TDs and single blocking defensive ends is pretty damn valuable and at the very least we don’t get an early lead without him.. maybe Brady has a tougher time and Fournette does r have as much success
March 12th, 2021 at 1:19 am
Simple solution…pay todd bowles head coach dollars . He stays , objective achieved. There is no cap for coaches pay. Barret keeps his coach, everybody is happy
March 12th, 2021 at 1:59 am
Shaq wants some security as much as he’s after money.
I think as long as the Bucs make him a good offer, maybe not the highest of anyone, but pretty close, he’ll come back.
I think he would have been pissed to get franchised again. He’s sick of playing on 1 year deals.
March 12th, 2021 at 3:56 am
Prediction: 3yrs $40 million guaranteed (18,18, 4). Gross $56mil
March 12th, 2021 at 4:20 am
Time to knock out the 3 S’s… Shaq, Suh, Succop. In THAT order.
Get er’ Done Jason and Mike G!
Go Bucs!!!
March 12th, 2021 at 5:43 am
He wanted to break the bank
But
Said he loved tampa…they gave him his chance…loves the community…calls this home. won a super bowl…todd bowles is an OG to him.
So he will still give the bucs somewhat of a hometown discount. But he will still make more money then he could ever dream.
If i had to guess…its not 20 or above. Its very high teens which is a no brainer for the bucs. I mean joey bosa makes 27 mil a year and played in 12 games last year with 7.5 sacks. Myles garrett makes 25 mil per year and had 12.5 sacks last year. Again both great players but cmon man . I mean only donald and mack should make that 20 plus range. Until cap goes up and up again
March 12th, 2021 at 5:50 am
I wouldn’t “Break the bank” for Shaq…………..sorry…..I just wouldn’t do it.
March 12th, 2021 at 6:29 am
BucsAnthem- agree. I’d prefer Barrett to stay of course but if he wants to get paid more than sayyyy Myles Garrett or something then I think we wave good bye. If they can work a deal for Bud Dupree, Dunlap, Hell – Von Miller, then I won’t lose too much sleep, I’m PRETTY SURE we can make that work
March 12th, 2021 at 6:33 am
@Rappaport … “If I was a pass rusher in Todd Bowles’ defense, I would never want to leave. You know, he gets the most out of guys and he helps them be really productive.”
Rappaport could’ve stopped there far as I’m concerned. Bucs ‘made their bed’ when they franchised Chris Godwin. They’re now betting that there will be enough DE/OLB talent available soon IMO to fill Shaq’s shoes … with Todd Bowles leading them.
With 5 days to go until the start of the new season (when all teams must be under the new salary CAP), Bucs have 50 players under contract, and probably 15 of those won’t make the team (potentially as many as 35 will I’d guess). So we’ve still got close to 18-20 players to sign who will be on our team come Game 1 (plus a number of others who’ll eventually either make it to the Practice Squad or end up being cut after Training Camp). Included in those 18-20 players will hopefully be names like Shaq, Suh, Gronk, Succop, RNR, Minter plus several others who played on our 2020 Super Bowl team. They won’t come cheap.
Presently we’re $2.9 mil OVER the $182.5 mil CAP for this year. So all we’ve gotta do now is probably massage our payroll enough to get under the CAP AND make room for probably another $40 or $50 mil worth of players . The next week or so will be REALLY interesting I suspect.
March 12th, 2021 at 7:25 am
4 years at 80 mil With 50 guaranteed. Anything north of that and bucs say goodbye
March 12th, 2021 at 7:44 am
DefenseRules.
I think you know this but only 51 top salaries count against the salary cap so not really concerned about how much the bottom of the roster costs. There will be 12-20 players that will be at minimum salaries (or near minimum) on all teams.
I want Shaq, Suh, Gronk, and Succop signed so that is the biggest challenge. Why mess with the success we had. Those guys show they can play a lot of downs. Why try to hope or guess that someone else can just step in.
Minter is not a concern really to resign. He will come over league minimum but will most likely take his veterans minimum from us.
March 12th, 2021 at 8:20 am
Geno711 … One point was that we’ve only got 50 under contract right now (we haven’t even reached the 51 point yet, and that’s why we’re ONLY $2.9 mil ABOVE the salary CAP). Look at the names under contract and many at the bottom of our current 50 won’t be with us come Sept.
I’m personally convinced that it was a Godwin OR Shaq decision point, and CG won out (still a possibility though in my mind that we may trade him). If we keep CG, I see no way to also sign Shaq PLUS all the other FAs we need to build a championship TEAM. That wouldn’t have been the case IF the CAP had even stayed at $198 mil, but cutting it to $182.5 mil essentially costs us ONE MAJOR PLAYER. I think that’s Shaq, but I REALLY hope that I’m wrong (I would’ve kept him over Chris, but that ship seems to have sailed).
March 12th, 2021 at 8:40 am
Not sure if my thinking is objective or “wishful”; but it would make sense that Shaq would want to stay in the Bucs D. This is where he got his chance to shine, this is where he flourished, the Bucs is where he was able to “feed his family” (gold bouillon). So that might create loyalty with Shaq, especially if Licht told Oily R to “bring us your best offer and we will do everything we can to match it.”
March 12th, 2021 at 8:42 am
A few years agoAlbert Haynesworth wrote in an open letter to his younger self (published on ESPN’s website?) that he should have never left Tennessee for more money. He said that the system in Tennessee was perfect for him to succeed and that leaving it was a mistake.
Not that Shaq can’t do great things elsewhere, but being in a system that makes you shine the brightest is something to be envied.
March 12th, 2021 at 9:24 am
Unless Bowles is named Assistant Head Coach and Heir Apparent and given a nice raise. $-$$,$$$,$$$.
March 12th, 2021 at 9:40 am
So first year with the Bucs was break out. But opposing teams saw him as a back up on his previous team and did not game plan for him. Season two was mostly average stats until the playoffs. Does that merit top money? I think he deserves decent above average money for next year with big money for two years following if he plays big in the coming season. Structure the money as above average for for 2021 with the next two years loaded with incentives based on performance. He was given the opportunity to shine with a super bowl contender that has a real chance to repeat. Show us a really consistent full season this year and you deserve top tier money after. If its all about ego let him walk.
March 12th, 2021 at 10:12 am
Dont fix it if it ain’t broke. Bucs won superbowl with this group, d line came up huge in playoffs. Who wouldn’t pay for another superbowl, saints put themselves 120 milly over the cap just for a shot. Barrett is worth a slight overpay. He has shown with Vea healthy he is best in league and without still above average. Also stops the run unlike many other free agents. Who else would you replace him with?
March 12th, 2021 at 11:21 am
BA will retire after we REPEAT. Todd Bowles will become HC and Replace BA
March 12th, 2021 at 5:12 pm
Repeat SB for the BUCCANEERS in the air
Fame is fleeting. Enjoy it now warriors.
March 14th, 2021 at 7:37 pm
Sign on for another decade… let’s fire them cannon way into the future! Sail with the motley crew… get rrrrrr done!