On National Day of Giving, Shaquil Barrett had good reason to be upset.
The two-time Super Bowl-winning linebacker had hoped to come out of retirement and play the remainder of the 2024 NFL season.
However, the Miami Dolphins, who exclusively hold his rights, declined to move the 32-year-old from the reserve/retired list to the active roster ahead of the league's Thursday 4 p.m. ET deadline. did.
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To make matters worse, the Dolphins also did not release Barrett, leaving him unable to sign with a new team this season. The Miami Herald reported.
And the cherry on top? According to league rules, players cannot retire and become free agents after the season.
Effectively, this means the Dolphins retain the rights to the two-time Pro Bowler in 2025.
If the team decides they don't want him, Barrett will be sitting in the same spot he is now, watching the Turkey Bowl from his couch this time next year.
While this is a legal and technological maelstrom, the story behind devolution is more linear.
In March 2024, Barrett, then 31 years old, signed a one-year contract worth $9 million with the Dolphins.
Just a few months later, as the Florida summer approached, Barrett had a change of heart and announced his retirement from the league, effective immediately.
Understandably, the Dolphins were surprised.
Almost a month after announcing his retirement, Barrett appeared on the “Up and Adams Show” hosted by Kay Adams. I teased “It's the perfect, perfect scenario to get him out of retirement.”
Barrett maintains how happy he is with his newfound leisure time, saying on the show that he doesn't plan on speaking out loud about his perfect scenario for fear of shutting down the magic behind the curtain before it begins to brew. Although he assured the host — it took Adams two minutes and eight seconds to convince him of that.
He said the linebacker would return if the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, where he played for five years and won the Super Bowl in 2021, take him.
The Bucks earlier this year cut Barrett, who ranks fifth in franchise history with 45 sacks and broke the team's single-season record in that division in 2019.
“That's not my intention. [return] Any other scenario, any other team or anything like that,” Barrett said at the time. “I have a lot of history.”
Ironically, a Dolphins team that claimed it didn't need him gave up 30 points and nearly 400 yards to Jordan Love's Packers during the nightcap of a Thanksgiving tripleheader.
Barrett can at least be grateful to have escaped that onslaught.
