Two-time Pro Bowl pass rusher Shaquil Barrett retired in July, days before the Miami Dolphins were set to begin training camp. While he changed his mind earlier this week and applied for immediate reinstatement, the Dolphins shut it down.
Rather than activate Barrett from the team’s reserve/retired list or release the pass rusher so he could make his return from retirement elsewhere, the Dolphins decided to do nothing. By leaving him on their reserve/retired list, the Dolphins guaranteed that the former Denver Broncos and Tampa Bay Buccaneers player won’t play at all in 2024.
“Just talking with [general manager] Chris [Grier], and where our roster was at and the players that have earned the right to be on [the roster],” Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel said Friday night after a 30-17 loss. “It’s a number’s game in the NFL. The timing I don’t think was necessarily ideal.”
By activating Barrett, the Dolphins would’ve had to release a player to find room for the pass rusher on the roster. That could be a tough call with the eventual returns of linebackers Bradley Chubb and/or Cameron Goode from the PUP list potentially forcing two more players off the 53-man roster.
But some criticized the Dolphins for not parting with Barrett to allow him to play elsewhere.
“Like I said we just found out on a day that I had a press conference with you guys, and it was more of that,” McDaniel said. “It wasn’t whether he wanted to play there or here. He knew we had his contractual rights, so it was more of where we are at, and let’s look at our roster.”
The Dolphins are near the bottom of the NFL in sacks with Chubb yet to play a game this season and Jaelan Phillips lost for the year with a season-ending knee injury. While first-round rookie Chop Robinson had a stellar November, Miami hardly touched Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love in a Thanksgiving loss.
Barrett, 32, led the NFL in sacks with 19.5 in 2019 and recorded 4.5 last season.
