Shaquil Barrett announced his retirement over the weekend. The 31 year-old linebacker signed a deal with the Miami Dolphins in the offseason but ultimately decided he is ready to walk away from the game and spend more time with his family. 

A tenacious pass rusher, a devout father, and one of the hardest working individuals you’d ever meet, Barrett’s path to becoming a Super Bowl champion, an All-Pro and a two-time Pro Bowler was anything but ordinary. 

After Nebraska-Omaha dissolved its football program after Barrett’s freshman season, the future NFL standout landed at Colorado State. He was a solid player throughout his three years with the Rams, he even led the squad in tackles his first year on the team, but his stardom, at least locally, really began with Barrett’s 2013 campaign. 

As a senior Barrett set a conference record with 20.5 tackles for loss and was top 5 in the country with 12 sacks. He was named Mountain West Player of the Year for his remarkable run with the Rams. He capped off his CSU career with an incredible performance in the 2013 New Mexico Bowl win as well — a game that’s widely considered one of the craziest finishes of all-time. 

In three years with the Green & Gold, Barrett recorded 246 total tackles, 32.5 tackles for loss and 18 sacks. He also had three interceptions and seven forced fumbles. Much like what we saw in Albuquerque in 2013, he always seemed to have a knack for coming up with timely turnovers. It was a theme that carried over into his professional career and part of what allowed him to out-shine players that were given much easier paths to the field than him.

Despite all of his production, and an invite to the East-West Shrine Game, Barrett was not drafted in 2014. But fortunately for Broncos fans, he ended up signing with Denver, and we all know how that worked out. 

Barrett quickly went from a fun little local story to an active and important member of Denver’s front seven. And in four years with the team he was able to record 14 sacks and seven forced fumbles — despite at times having his snaps limited for failed draft picks like Shane Ray. 

It’s a shame that the Broncos believed in Barrett enough to give him his initial opportunity and even trusted him enough to make six starts as a rookie in 2015, but did not want to lock him down long-term after seeing the way he consistently out-performed players with higher status. Honestly, though, it probably worked out better for Barrett in the end, because it was Tampa Bay where he was finally unleashed.

In five seasons with the Buccaneers, Barrett recorded 45 sacks and 15 forced fumbles. Before battling injuries these past couple of years, Barrett was genuinely one of the most dominant defensive players in the NFL with 37.5 sacks between 2019-2021 alone. His ability to get after the quarterback was a big part of what propelled Tampa Bay to a Super Bowl victory; though bringing in Tom Brady was obviously the biggest key.

Barrett recorded a sack and a team-high four hits on Patrick Mahomes in the 31-9 thumping of the Chiefs in Super Bowl LV. He leaves pro football with 59 sacks to his name and a couple of Super Bowl rings. Not too shabby for a kid out of the Mountain West who 32 teams passed on in the NFL Draft. 

The Barrett family suffered a heartbreaking tragedy when their 2 year-old daughter Arrayah drowned in the family’s pool in July of 2023. Barrett managed to play this past fall but with he and his wife, Jordanna, recently having another child, and his two oldest boys now approaching high school, it’s not surprising at all that Shaq is electing to hang up the cleats and spend more time at home.

Going all the way back to his time in Fort Collins, where he and Jordanna were balancing the chaos of being young parents in the middle of his college football career, Shaq has always been a family man through and through. He’s the kind of person that understands athletics are fleeting, players come and go, but family is forever.

Congratulations on an incredible career and a lasting legacy that will not be soon forgotten. The name Shaquil Barrett will always mean something special in Ram Nation.