Tag: Shaquil Barrett

Shaq Barrett jokes the Bucs need to ‘help me buy a house in Tampa’

Bucs linebacker Shaq Barrett had to be evacuated from his Colorado home due to a nearby fire, but was able to still crack a funny joke.

Bucs fans can breathe a sigh of relief as linebacker Shaq Barrett, who led the NFL in sacks last season with 19.5, said on SiriusXM NFL Radio on Monday that he will indeed sign his franchise tag and play out the 2020 season if he and the Bucs can’t come to terms on a new long-term deal by the July 15 deadline.

Bruce Arians, himself, said during last season that Barrett wasn’t going anywhere, and the hope is that both sides can find enough common ground to hammer out the details on a contract that will keep Barrett in a Bucs jersey for years to come.

And Barrett seems to be hoping that long-term deal comes sooner rather than later after he was evacuated from his Colorado home today due to a fire. Fortunately, it seems everyone got out all right, and Barrett was able to crack a little joke about needing the Bucs’ help to buy a house in Tampa.

Take a look.

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PFF league-wide re-draft nets Bills familiar faces

Pro Football Focus created a league-wide fantasy draft. Here are the Bills’ selections.

Pro Football Focus recently completed its own version of a league-wide fantasy draft, assigning players to new teams following the 2020 draft order. The world-wide leader, ESPN, conducted theirs just last week.

In the task, PFF does a snake draft and starts off using the original draft order for the recent 2020 NFL Draft, so Buffalo selects at No. 22 overall, the pick the club traded to the Vikings in reality.

Buffalo, with the 22nd selection, stayed close to home and selected quarterback Josh Allen. Even though PFF has often been critical of Allen, they still see him as one of the integral parts to building a team. NFL analyst Evan Silva made the picks for the Bills and added his rationale for sticking with the Wyoming product as a Buffalo Bill:

It’s Sam Darnold, Josh Allen or Daniel Jones. I think that they’re all in very similar territory. I wake up one day, I like Darnold the best. I wake up the next day, I like Daniel Jones the best. But I kind of think I know the best, and that’s going to be the 2020 NFL MVP Josh Allen reuniting with the Buffalo Bills.

That’s some high praise from Silva for a player falling to 22nd overall in this re-draft. Interestingly enough, every selection before Allen was a quarterback, even the injured Tua Tagovailoa, current second-stringer  Jameis Winston (19th selection), the unemployed Cam Newton (20th overall). Overall, the first 26-straight picks are quarterbacks.

With Buffalo’s second-round pick, the team chose cornerback Tre’Davious White. White has been outstanding since being drafted (in real life) by the Bills in 2017, the first pick under the Sean McDermott regime. White earned his first All-Pro selection this past year, after tying for the league lead with six interceptions.

In the third round, Buffalo addressed their need for a premier pass rusher by selecting Shaquil Barrett. Barrett was a beast off the edge last year, leading the league with 19.5 sacks. The 27-year-old broke out last year in his first season with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, setting career highs in sacks, tackles, quarterback hits, tackles for loss. And, he added his first career interception.

Silva’s fourth and final pick for Buffalo visited the defense once again, selecting tackling machine Darius Leonard. In two seasons, Leonard recorded 284 total tackles, 12 sacks, and six forced fumbles.

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Shaq Barrett needs 11.5 sacks in 2020 to break this Simeon Rice mark

Bucs LB Shaquil Barrett had a monster season in 2019, and has a chance to break another Bucs record come 2020.

Buccaneer linebacker Shaquil Barrett came out of nowhere last season to lead the league in sacks with 19.5, a huge feat considering he had only 14.0 sacks over the previous four years.

Barrett also broke Warren Sapp’s single-season franchise record for sacks set in 2000 (16.5), but if he really wants to make his mark further in the Bucs’ record books, Barrett will need to get 11.5 sacks this upcoming season to eclipse the two-year sack total set by former defensive end Simeon Rice, who collected 15.5 in 2002 and 15.0 in 2003 for a total of 30.5. (Sapp had only 6.0 sacks the year after setting the franchise mark.)

The good news for Barrett is that both Jason Pierre-Paul and Ndamukong Suh will be back with the Bucs defense this season, meaning teams will have to account for more than just Barrett.

It was a historic year for the former undrafted player in 2019, and Barrett is hoping to prove to himself, and the league, that he’s anything but a one-hit wonder. Breaking Rice’s two-year sack mark would go a long way in cementing his legacy with the Bucs franchise.

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Shaq Barrett among NFL’s best disruptors of 2019

Nick Shook of NFL.com explains why Shaq Barrett was one of the best disruptors in the league last season.

A case can be made that after Tom Brady, the biggest offseason move the Buccaneers made was using the franchise tag on linebacker Shaquil Barrett, who led the NFL in sacks last season with 19.5, which also broke the franchise’s single-season record.

Barrett will be coming back to a defense that also retained both Ndamukong Suh and Jason Pierre-Paul. And with a nice new salary, Barrett will look to continue to build off his 2019 success when he was one of the NFL’s best disruptors.

Nick Shook over at NFL.com listed Barrett as the seventh-best disruptor of last season, and explains why his rate dropped a bit.

Per Shook:

“[Barrett] had 5.5 more sacks in 16 games last year than he did in 61 games with the Broncos. His 78 total disruptions paint a picture of a defender who was constantly causing problems for opposing offenses, and he capitalized on such opportunities more often than anyone else on this list, as evidenced by his sack total and sack rate… Like Aaron Donald, Barrett also played a ton of snaps (836, including 508 pass rushes), bringing his overall disruption rate down a tad. That’s a number you can look at in two different ways, though — a larger sample size is nearly always going to bring a player’s success rate down, but conversely, more pass rushes means more opportunities. Just a little food for thought before you get to typing.”

Barrett thrived in his first season under Todd Bowles and the defense as a whole should take a big step forward in 2020. The Bucs used their second-round pick in last month’s draft to select safety Antoine Winfield Jr. out of Minnesota. Along with Devin White and Sean Murphy-Bunting, this Tampa Bay defense is starting to form its own identity with a mixture of youth and veteran leadership.

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There are no limits for Shaq Barrett

Take a look at this recent Instagram post from Bucs linebacker Shaquil Barrett, showing he has no limits.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have had a big offseason, signing quarterback Tom Brady and trading for his running mate Rob Gronkowski. But the Bucs also made major moves to keep their defense intact, re-signing Ndamukong Suh and Jason Pierre-Paul, while also using the franchise tag on linebacker Shaq Barrett.

Barrett, who came to the Bucs last offseason on a one-year “prove it” deal, did just that in 2019, leading the NFL in sacks last season with 19.5, which also broke Tampa Bay’s single-season franchise record. Barrett will be back in 2020 and hopefully longer, and as he showed on Instagram recently, there are no limits for him.

Take a look at this video he posted.

View this post on Instagram

No limits 📸 @lemargriffinfilms

A post shared by Shaquil Barrett (@moochman6) on

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Buccaneers place franchise tag on Shaquil Barrett

The Buccaneers have tagged Shaquil Barrett, keeping him in Tampa Bay for one more year.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers aren’t going to risk losing the NFL’s 2019 sack leader in free agency. According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the Bucs are placing the franchise tag on Shaquil Barrett, preventing him from becoming an unrestricted free agent.

Tampa Bay had until 11:59 a.m. ET on Monday to use the franchise tag.

Barrett led the league with 19.5 sacks last season, breaking out in a big way in his first season with the Buccaneers. His previous career-high was 5.5 sacks with the Broncos in 2015, and his 37 QB hits in 2019 were more than he had in the previous five years combined.

With Barrett tagged, Jameis Winston is set to hit the free-agent market on Wednesday afternoon. The legal tampering period begins on Monday at noon, which is when Winston’s agent can begin contacting teams and discussing terms of a contract.

Assuming Barrett is tagged with an outside linebacker designation instead of defensive end, the franchise tag is expected to be worth $15.8 million for the 2020 season. Last offseason, Barrett signed a one-year, $4 million deal with Tampa Bay.

The Buccaneers now have until July 15 to sign Barrett to a long-term extension, otherwise he’ll play the season out on the tag – which he’s said he’s willing to do.

Predicting where the top 21 free agents will land

From Tom Brady to Amari Cooper to Philip Rivers, Touchdown Wire’s Doug Farrar identifies likely fits for this year’s top NFL free agents.

 

 

Predicting where the top 21 free agents will land

From Tom Brady to Amari Cooper to Philip Rivers, Touchdown Wire’s Doug Farrar identifies likely fits for this year’s top NFL free agents.

There are all kinds of reasons players end up on new teams in free agency. The best reason, of course, is that a front office and a group of coaches will correctly estimate that the player fits perfectly in the new team’s set of schemes and concepts. Other teams prefer to take their existing cap space, throw stuff against the wall and see if anything sticks. No matter the reason, here’s where we think the top 21 players in the upcoming free-agent class will land.

This list doesn’t include players who have been given the franchise tag by their current teams, although those moves can lead to sign-and-trade deals — in the case of Jacksonville Jaguars edge-rusher Yannick Ngakoue, that scenario seems especially possible. And with Drew Brees saying that he’s coming back to the Saints and reportedly willing to take a below-market deal to do so, he’s off the list as well. These are the top 21 potential free agents at this point, and where we think they will land based on positional need, player value and team cap flexibility.

Tom Brady: Tampa Bay Buccaneers

(Mitch Stringer-USA TODAY Sports)

It sounds crazy to some, but there’s no guarantee that Brady will be back with the Patriots after 20 fairly successful seasons. Following a frustrating 2019 campaign in which he struggled with timing and accuracy with receivers who couldn’t consistently gain separation, Brady fell short of the Super Bowl despite a Patriots defense that was one of the best in recent memory. One might assume the Patriots can improve that situation in the offseason, but what if Brady is simply looking for a change of scenery? He would require a team that is on a championship curve minus the quarterback, a group of receivers who can beat coverage and an offensive play-designer who can match Brady’s remaining talents with the right scheme.

The Buccaneers come in with a check-check-check scenario. Todd Bowles coordinated a defense that rose from dead last to fifth overall in Football Outsiders’ opponent-adjusted metrics. Mike Evans and Chris Godwin are one of the NFL’s most formidable receiving duos, and if you can get Bruce Arians to use his tight ends in the passing game, there’s the dynamic duo of Cameron Brate and O.J. Howard. When matching Brady and Arians together, as some observers have tried to do based on this Tampa Bay Times report that the Bucs are “all in” on the idea of Brady, many will cite Arians’ preferred deep passing attack and Brady’s supposedly dead arm. Well, last season, even with an underwhelming group of targets, Brady still completed 26 of 67 passes of 20 or more air yards for 749 yards, with seven touchdowns and three interceptions. Plus, Arians’ passing game is more than just a bunch of go routes — think more of three levels to the quarterback’s front side, and quick bailout routes to the back side.

So, when you consider alternate accommodations for Tom Brady, Tampa Bay is definitely one destination to consider.

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Touchdown Wire’s top 25 free agents

Touchdown Wire’s top 25 free agents

 

Touchdown Wire’s top 25 free agents

With free agency set to begin, who are some of the premier players who could possibly find a new home in 2020?

With free agency looming in the National Football League, all 32 teams are getting ready to dip into the open market to try and acquire players that could be the missing link to a Super Bowl run. There are dozens of players who can provide an impact on new teams next year, but here are Touchdown Wire’s top 25 free agents.

Many of these players are likely to return to their current teams either with a new long-term deal or via the franchise tag, but as they say in the league, “…on any given Sunday.”

1. Dak Prescott, QB, Dallas Cowboys

(Tim Heitman-USA TODAY Sports)

Quarterbacks are going to top this list, given the importance of the position in today’s National Football League. Sure, any pantheon of quarterback rankings will have living legends such as Drew Brees and Tom Brady atop the list, but if you are a current franchise looking to lock down your quarterback for the next five years or more, you are going to prioritize the QB who turns 27 this summer. The Dallas Cowboys likely find a way to bring Prescott back via a long-term deal or the franchise tag, but if he somehow finds a way to the open market, expect plenty of suitors.

2. Drew Brees, QB, New Orleans Saints

Drew Brees New Orleans Saints
(Chuck Cook-USA TODAY Sports)

Drew Brees is still playing the quarterback position at an extremely high level. Last season, according to PFF’s charting data, he led the NFL last season in Adjusted Completion Percentage (ACP) with a number of 82.9, and according to NFL Next Gen Stats, Brees was second in the league with a 6.3 jump from his Expected Completion Percentage (xCOMP) of 68.0% to his actual Completion Percentage (CP) of 74.3%, behind only Ryan Tannehill. Brees had declared that he is “Who Dat Nation for life” recently on Boston sports radio, but a team that is close to making a run at a title but needs immediate help at the quarterback position – and can afford him – is at least going to pick up the phone.

3. Tom Brady, QB, New England Patriots

(Winslow Townson-USA TODAY Sports)

Arguably the greatest quarterback of all time, Tom Brady is set to truly test free agency for the first time in his career. While Brady and the New England Patriots experienced a setback last season, with the quarterback putting up pedestrian numbers while the franchise was bounced out of the playoffs in the Wild Card round for the first time since 2009, with weapons around him and in the right offense Brady is still capable of leading a team deep into the playoffs. New England might still be the best situation for him, given his familiarity with the offense, but teams like the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Los Angeles Chargers are expected to take a run at the six-time Super Bowl Champion.

4. Amari Cooper, WR, Dallas Cowboys

(Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)

Expectations are high that the rookie class of wide receivers is going to have an instant and immediate impact on the NFL next season. Draft expert Daniel Jeremiah declared before the Scouting Combine that on his draft board, he has “27 wide receivers with top three-round grades in this draft.” That may depress the market for free agent WRs somewhat, but you cannot deny that Amari Cooper is a top-flight talent at the position with the ability to run a diverse route tree immediately for a franchise. His impact on quarterback Dak Prescott was almost immediate when the Cowboys acquired him two seasons ago, and at just 25 years old he has years of high-level production ahead of him.

5. Chris Jones, DL, Kansas City Chiefs

(Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports)

Over his last 29 regular season games, Chris Jones has tallied 24.5 sacks. Those are impressive numbers for an interior defensive lineman, and under defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo last season Jones showed the positional flexibility to play in a variety of alignments up front for the Kansas City Chiefs’ defense. The organization has stressed that retaining Jones is a top priority for them, and you can expect him to return to KC either with a long-term deal or under the franchise tag. However, teams that have a lot of cap space like the Cincinnati Bengals, Indianapolis Colts and Buffalo Bills will likely inquire once the tampering window opens if Jones is not inked or tagged by then.

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