Resident Disrupter
November 5th, 2020
Bucs OLB Shaq Barrett.
No, Joe has no nickname for Shaq Barrett other than to call him the “NFL’s sack king.”
Last year Shaq led the NFL with 19.5 sacks. But while he holds the crown, the way he’s not been racking up sacks this year, he’s in danger of going from royalty to peasant rather quickly.
Shaq has three sacks in eight games. Joe loves Shaq but you just know the Bucs didn’t pay him franchise-tag cash for subjective pressures which don’t bother the best quarterbacks.
Nick Shook of NFL.com, however, will have you believe Shaq is still a very dangerous pass rusher. Using NextGen stats, Shook rated Shaq the No. 4 best rusher.
37 disruptions, 15.4% disruption rate (240 pass rushes), 34 QB pressures, 14.2% QB pressure rate, 3 TOs caused on QB pressures, 1.3% sack rate
Last year’s sack leader isn’t getting to the quarterback at anywhere near the rate that saw him finish just shy of 20 sacks in 2019, but he’s still making an impact. Shaquil Barrett’s disruption rate falls in line with some of the best on this list, as do his totals in disruptions and quarterback pressures. Barrett has also caused three turnovers via pressure, and he’s doing all of this while part of a defensive front seven that includes Jason Pierre-Paul, Ndamukong Suh and Devin White (with those three combining for 15.5 sacks so far). It’s not the level of performance that took the league by storm last season, but Barrett is still proving Tampa Bay was wise to use the franchise tag to keep him on a team that expects to contend for a title immediately.
Now some background for those of you who don’t live with your head buried in a spreadsheet like Rays manager Kevin Cash.
A disruption (man, did the GMC haters go wild when it was mentioned he got disruption) is either a quarterback-hurry, a quarterback pressure or a sack.
Disruption rate is the total number of disruptions divided by the total number of pass-rush snaps. And Shook documents that Shaq is excellent with these two stats.
You know why Joe is hung up on sacks above all else? A quarterback cannot complete a pass when he is sacked and also is more likely to lose the ball. Yes, Joe knows Shaq may have very well caused two Danny Dimes picks Monday night because he was t0uching him. OK, fine.
Look, Joe doesn’t want to get into a spat here about Shaq. Joe likes him and is glad he’s getting close to quarterbacks. Now when he finally starts regularly actually slamming a quarterback in the ribs and taking him to the turf, then he really will be beasting.
November 5th, 2020 at 9:11 am
Todd Bowles said QB’s are getting the ball out quicker this year. Average drop back and pass is 2.7 seconds while the average sack takes 4.3 seconds. The coverage on the back end is having a bigger influence on the pass rush success. Shaq has been playing great in his role. I’ll take forced throws for INT’s all day. Although like you Joe I wish he could have a little more success in closing on the quarterback with a bit more consistency. I am hoping the back half of the year he earns about 8 more sacks and 3 FF.
November 5th, 2020 at 9:18 am
Shaq is a more complete football player this season and is playing team football with his mates. I’m not overly concerned about his individual sack numbers. About half of Shaq’s sacks (has a ring to it) last year came in the first few games without JPP but when Shaq was all the Bucs had for pass rush. Once they started doubling Shaq he went quiet. When JPP came back the sacks came back. Now teams are doubling Shaq and JPP with extra blockers so DW and LVD are getting home on the blitz along with Suh and Gholston.
I like this year’s Shaq better because he is making his team better, not just individual statistics.
November 5th, 2020 at 9:24 am
Love Shaw, but we should resign at at about $10 mil
November 5th, 2020 at 9:35 am
Its the eye test to me. You can actually see Shaq is causing havoc and creating stress on the offense. Whereas w McCoy you never really seen or felt there was that much of an impact from him.
But its time to turn the page from McCoy. Numbers don’t lie, we weren’t #1 against the run with him in the middle of the line. Not all on him, cause there is better talent on defense now than when he was here.
November 5th, 2020 at 9:39 am
pay him…
GO BUCS!!!
November 5th, 2020 at 9:50 am
Other than Aaron Rodgers who historically holds the ball, quarterbacks are getting rid of the ball quicker against the Buccaneers for the most part this year. Can’t blame them. Drew Brees always gets rid of the ball quick for short passes. The DBs need to play tight for a little slants.
I really would love to see Shaq pick it up in the second half and get to 10 sacks though. I thought he would have some against Jones
November 5th, 2020 at 9:58 am
TBBF … Behind JPP & Shaq we have, oh ya, nobody. And next year JPP will be 32 going on 33 by the end of the 2021 season, and in the last year of his contract with us. Got a hunch Bucs will do whatever they need to do to retain Shaq for the long term. Wouldn’t be at all surprised to see Suh sign on for another year also (at his current $8 mil salary). His leadership on that DLine has been invaluable, even before Vea went down. Same thing BTW for LVD; he’s still playing at a very high level IMO.
November 5th, 2020 at 10:12 am
Next year is gonna be interesting. Gonna have a lot of free agents but we definitely end to keep Shaq and LVD. However we can’t pay Shaq 17 or 18 million.
November 5th, 2020 at 10:38 am
QBs know that if he gets one more step, he will have them. They are trying to avoid him, he’ll catch up, hopefully soon.
I still think he can be a consistent 10 sack guy, and that has been a rare thing for the Bucs.
November 5th, 2020 at 10:43 am
He is saving it for the playoffs
November 5th, 2020 at 11:20 am
Pay the man, absolute stud. Yes I would like to see more sacks for the said reasons Joe stated, QB’s do not complete passes when they are being slammed to the ground. But Shaq is playing big time as these disruption stats show the overall impact of his consistent play on the field. Teams know they have to game plan for him. That speaks volumes. If they do not Shaq is a game wrecker. Just ask the Panthers what happened in Cam Newtons last game as a starter for them. Shaq basically ended Cams career as a Panther. GO BUCS!!!!
November 5th, 2020 at 11:21 am
Is it just me or does he look a little thicker than last season
November 5th, 2020 at 11:27 am
AwshBucs. GMC? Really? GMC was talented but he was soft AF. Making matters worse, he was the team leader and made the whole team soft. We were Tampa Bay Charmin. To no surprise, GMC was the first player jettisoned by BA and Bowles. Who’d they bring in to replace McCoy and build culture? Suh. His wallet is the one that says, “Bad MoFo” on the front (Pulp Fiction).
As for a more well rounded Shaq. Don’t buy it. That’s Agent speak for, “We need to preserve as much of a payday as we can.” His 2021 contract will be $7-10M less a year if/when he doesn’t record +10 sacks. His agent is trying to get some back.
November 5th, 2020 at 11:29 am
Joe don’t forget Shaq switched positions with JPP this season. That may factor in .
November 5th, 2020 at 12:42 pm
The difference with GMC was that his “pressure” was easily negated. He’d get his rush up the middle and they’d run outside, or scramble away and no edge rusher was talented enough at the time to clean up.
Shaq’s pressures, are combined with A-gap blitzes, Suh (and Vea before injury) and JPP on the opposite side.
So 1 guy getting pressure is a shoulder shrug. 3 guys getting pressure simultaneously results in sacks, TFLs or TO’s.
November 5th, 2020 at 1:12 pm
Joe, you used this same reasoning last year when you pointed out Suh wasn’t getting sacks, even though the Bucs had no 1 rushing defense.
Barrett is making plays and is a factor in turnovers and forcing opponents to punt – whatever contributes to an effective D and winning works. I’ll take winning 3 out of 4 over sack leader any day.
November 5th, 2020 at 2:17 pm
Very rarely do I disagree with you Joe, but disruption could be more beneficial than sacks. A turn over is instantly more productive than a sack, it gives better field position than when you sack sand force amount. Would like to see a breakdown of how many of his pressures resulted in a TO. TO also demoralize QBs and forces opponents defense to play longer causing more production from our offense. While it’s nice to see a guy blow up getting 15+ sacks I would rather have 3 or 4 ppl getting the total so defense coordinators cant game plan for one person alone.
November 5th, 2020 at 2:17 pm
Force a punt*
November 5th, 2020 at 2:41 pm
🙂
November 5th, 2020 at 3:11 pm
One thing is for sure: This D isn’t seeing many 7-step drop-backs.
The game plan against the Bucs is “get the ball out early.”
That reduces the sack numbers and makes “pressure” from DB’s more important.
November 5th, 2020 at 3:44 pm
I think Shaq is having a very good year and he’s a big reason why the Bucs are among the league leaders in sacks. When opposing teams game plan to stop certain players it leaves other guys open.
Excellent point, Cobraboy. You’re correct. You obviously can’t get credit for a sack if the ball is out of his hands quickly.
November 5th, 2020 at 4:03 pm
@franklinthe813 – I agree, he definitely looks chubbier this year and a step slower. Bottom line is this: He’s not getting to the QB enough this season.
November 5th, 2020 at 6:43 pm
As long as the Defense is playing well – and Shaq is playing well by all accounts – his lack of sacks (compared to last year) is a GOOD thing.
Bucs would obviously like to keep Barrett around long term. That will be much more possible and likely if Shaq gets 7 or 8 sacks this year instead of 12 or 13.
Fair or not – an edge rusher gets paid primarily based on how many sacks he produces. Barrett’s “lack” of sacks this year if it continues will hopefully make his price affordable enough that the Bucs can comfortably sign him to a long term deal. If he wound up with 14 sacks again this year after 19 1/2 last year – Bucs would never be able to keep him. He’d be wanting $20M per year long term and probably get it from some team….
November 5th, 2020 at 9:48 pm
Sacks are obviously defensive golf…in addition to the stop you get the loss of yardage.
Still I also like blocked or batted passes that give the offense NO chance of completing a pass.