Shaq Barrett is ready to rumble, and the Dolphins, finally, have released their grip.
Less than a month after Miami put a stop to the linebacker’s attempts to return from retirement, the team is waiving Barrett from the reserve/retired list, per ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
Barrett, 32, will be eligible to play again this season if he clears waivers Friday. However, if claimed, he would be ineligible to play the rest of this season, according to Schefter.
In top form, the two-time Pro Bowler would be a value add for any of the league’s playoff-bound or playoff-hopeful franchises.
The edge rusher is a proven threat, but he hasn’t seen the gridiron for nearly a year and played his least productive season in 2023 on the heels of an Achilles tear in 20022.
A team like the Lions, who have seen their defense decimated by injuries, could take a chance on the veteran and slot him into a rotational role.
“We appreciate the Dolphins giving Shaq this opportunity to continue his career in the NFL,” Barrett’s agent, Drew Rosenhaus, told Schefter. “Hopefully he will pass through waivers and become a free agent so he can play again this season. He is in great shape and would be ready to play immediately.”
On Thanksgiving, the Dolphins had declined to move Barrett off of the reserve/retired list and onto the active roster ahead of the league’s deadline.
The no-move meant that Barrett would not be able to play for the Dolphins for the remainder of the season, nor would he be able to sign with another team.
To make matters worse, Miami would still hold Barrett’s exclusive rights throughout the following season as league rules stipulate that a player cannot retire and then become a free agent at the end of the season.
At the time, Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel told reporters, “it’s just a numbers game … the timing, I don’t think, was necessarily ideal.”
Perhaps Miami’s brass was a little bit salty. If they felt they had been snubbed, they were not without fair reason.
The two-time Super Bowl champion had signed a one-year contract worth $7 million in March but never suited up for ‘Fins; the day before training camp opened, Barrett informed the team that he was retiring from the league, effective immediately.
Then, not a month later, Barrett teased the “perfect, perfect scenario” that would bring him out of retirement during an appearance on the “Up and Adams Show.”
Barrett said he would return if Tampa Bay — where he played for five years and won a Super Bowl in 2021 — would take him back.
The Buccaneers will have that chance if Barrett clears waivers Friday.