Shaq Barrett Reveals Targeted Return Date From Injury

The last time we saw Bucs outside linebacker Shaq Barrett was the day after the team’s 31-14 home playoff loss to the Dallas Cowboys. Tampa Bay’s top edge rusher was a spectator for that game, as he was recovering from a torn Achilles tendon he suffered in a Week 8 loss to Baltimore.

Barrett and his teammates were cleaning out their lockers in mid-January and getting ready for an offseason of reflection after a disappointing 8-9 season. The lone silver lining was winning the NFC South title for a second straight year, but it felt hollow with a losing record.

A few months later, Barrett emerged on the Loose Cannons podcast where he was asked for a progress report on his recovery, as well as a timetable for his return to the field.

Bucs OLB Shaq Barrett – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

“Mentally, it had me in a bad spot for a day or two,” Barrett said. “Physically, now I’m good. I’m doing the rehab. I’m getting better. I’ve been jogging on the treadmill … doing everything pretty much according to plan and on schedule. It might be a little slower right now because we’ve got a lot of time.

“But I’m ready to go – I’m going to be ready to go when it’s time to go. I’m pretty sure ‘time to go’ will be the first game. I don’t anticipate missing any games. I don’t anticipate being on any play counts. I should be ready to go for the first game for sure.”

The Bucs will open the 2023 season either on Sunday, September 10 or Monday, September 11. That means Barrett has five more months to rehab and prepare to make his return to action. Whether Barrett will miss some or all of training camp and the preseason is uncertain.

Will Shaq Barrett Return To Form When He’s Back From His Injury?

But returning to action and returning to form are two different things. Prior to Barrett’s injury he was having a down season during the first half of 2022, notching just three sacks. Now entering the third year of a four-year extension (with two extra void years) in which he’s making $17 million per season, the Bucs appear to be hedging their bets – just in case Barrett, who turns 31 in November, can’t make a full recovery from his Achilles injury.

Tampa Bay is expected to select an edge rusher in the first three rounds of the 2023 NFL Draft to safeguard the team in case Barrett can’t produce the pressures and sacks he used to. The Bucs also haven’t restructured his contract even though they could use some cap savings this year if they did. The reason? If Tampa Bay has to cut Barrett next year because he’s just not the same player – and thus no longer worth $17 million – the team doesn’t want to push any more dead money into future cap years.

Bucs OLB Shaquil Barrett and DT Logan Hall – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

A study published in 2018 to Foot and Ankle International found that 28% of players who suffered a torn Achilles did not resume their careers. Of those who did the study found the mean return time was 339.8 days after the surgery was performed. Barrett returning for the season opener would be ahead of that timetable.

He indicated that there haven’t been any setbacks in his recovery so far.

“With this injury, it hasn’t hurt since the second day after surgery,” Barrett said on the Loose Cannons podcast. “I haven’t had any pain in it since then.”

The best case scenario is that Barrett returns with a vengeance this season. And that the edge rusher the team ends up drafting pushes Joe Tryon-Shoyinka, a former first-rounder who has stalled out at four sacks in each of the last two seasons, to new heights – or pushes him to the bench.