The 2019 AP NFL All-Pro team rosters were revealed today, and two Tampa Bay Buccaneers — Shaq Barrett and Chris Godwin — were named to the second team. In any other year, that would be a huge honor for a guy like Barrett, but given his monster season in which he led the NFL with 19.5 sacks, it’s shocking that he was not named to the first team.
The two guys named over him were Chandler Jones of the Arizona Cardinals and T.J. Watt of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Jones finished the year with 19.0 sacks and Watt with 14.5, both incredibly respectable numbers.
But, you have to go all the way back to 2010 to find a player who led the league in sacks who did not make the All-Pro first team. That player was DeMarcus Ware of the Dallas Cowboys, who led the league with 15.5 sacks in 2010, but was named only to the second team.
Barrett, who came to the Buccaneers in the offseason on a one-year deal, set the Bucs’ franchise record for sacks in a single season, capping off his monster year with a three-sack performance against the Atlanta Falcons in Week 17. It’s hard to fathom that he didn’t get named to the first team.
Still, Barrett’s big year will likely result in a giant contract from the Buccaneers this offseason, which I’m sure will help him forget about the first team snub.
Maybe.
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