Two-time Super Bowl champion flirts NFL return one month after retirement

Throughout NFL history, there have been numerous players who have come out of retirement, and the league could see that happen once again in 2024.

Linebacker Shaquil Barrett, who announced his surprise retirement from the NFL about a month ago after signing a one-year deal with the Miami Dolphins in March, has already started to flirt with the idea of a comeback.

"There's one scenario that might be able to bring me out of retirement, like a perfect, perfect scenario," Barrett said on "Up & Adams." "But I don't think it's going to happen and I'm not expecting it to happen."

Players who typically come out of retirement do so with the intent of adding a Super Bowl to their resume. However, Barrett, a two-time Super Bowl champion, says that isn't the case for him.

"It's a location and a team," Barrett added. "It ain't got nothing to do with winning a Super Bowl."

Barrett eventually came clean, admitting the one team he'd come out of retirement to play for is the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who he played for from 2019-2023.

"I've just got a lot of history down there," Barrett continued. "Tampa, I'd do anything. I'll take pay cuts for Tampa because the way they showed up for my family and stuff like that. It just meant so much to me and it was highly unexpected. Tampa, they've got a special place in my heart."

Barrett is referencing when his family suffered a tragedy in April 2023 when his 2-year-old daughter, Arrayah, drowned in the family's pool. The Buccaneers helped him get through one of the worst moments of his life, and for that, he is forever grateful.

While Barrett isn't completely shutting the door on a return to the NFL, he still reiterated that his football career is behind him.

"I'm really happy with my decision of not playing football no more," Barrett concluded. "I'm not returning anywhere. I'm happily retired."

Barrett had 400 tackles, 59 sacks, 22 forced fumbles, five fumble recoveries, three interceptions, 18 passes defensed and one touchdown in his 10-year NFL career.