TAMPA, Fla. — Shaquil Barrett left the Broncos looking for the opportunity to be a full-time player he never received in Denver. He returns this week as the NFL’s reigning sack king.
After playing his first five seasons in Denver learning under premier pass rushers Von Miller and DeMarcus Ware before recording 19.5 sacks in his first season with the Bucs, Barrett’s return is special.
But he’s also treating it like a business trip — and another chance to get his season on track.
“It is going to feel good to go back there,” Barrett said. “I just want to show them what they did have a chance to have and they let me go, but I’m happy with my situation down here. I love it. It’s literally just the best plan that could ever happen and worked out. … Trying to get another win, that’s the most important thing, to come out as a winner, be 2-1.”
Last season, Barrett had eight sacks in his first three games. This year, he goes into Week 3 still searching for his first.
He knew he’d get more attention this season, and he has. But Barrett says he’s not setting the tackles up quite the same way, relying too much on his favorite pass rush moves instead of keeping them guessing.
“I just have to get back to setting moves up and working moves, because I do have the whole game,” Barrett said. “I don’t have to rush and try to do too much in the first quarter (or) second quarter.”
Barrett has a variety of moves and is constantly trying to add to his arsenal, so the Bucs believe he will start getting to the quarterback sooner than later.
“Once a tackle kind of knows what you’re going to do, he’s ready,” coach Bruce Arians said. “Shaq’s got a good toolbox and I can see it coming more, quicker and quicker. He’s getting there, and the sacks will come.”
Barrett’s teammates on the defensive front have picked up the slack. Jason Pierre-Paul and Ndamukong Suh have two sacks each, and William Gholston has one. Still, the Bucs definitely need results from Barrett, who is making $15.8 million this season under the franchise tag.
“He’s done a really good job for them,” Broncos coach Vic Fangio said. “He’s a slippery pass rusher. He does a good job when they do drop him. I just think he’s a really good football player here that was stuck behind Von and Bradley (Chubb) and got himself an opportunity and has made the most of it, for sure.”
Barrett said as long as he wasn’t starting, he didn’t have any more room to grow in Denver.
“I didn’t even want to stay in Denver no more,” Barrett said. “After like my last two years there, I felt as though it was a zero-percent chance to start. They wouldn’t even give me an opportunity to compete to start. I just felt it was time for that to be over.”
Barrett talked this week about his first days in Denver, playing for the practice squad there, practicing moves against the starting right tackle. He’d take tips from players like Miller and Ware and watch videos of the top pass rushers in the league to glean any detail that could be a part of his next move.
“You can’t be a one-trick pony all day,” Barrett said. “ … I am working on stuff still, but I’m still a little hesitant to put it out there right now. But I’m going to have to do it, because they do work as long as I do them the right way.”
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