Tampa Bay Buccaneers have been busy tying down key members of their Super Bowl winning side to new contracts; Shaq Barrett's four-year deal includes $36m in guaranteed money, according to his agent Drew Rosenhaus
Monday 15 March 2021 20:50, UK
Tampa Bay Buccaneers linebacker Shaquil Barrett has agreed to a four-year, $72m contract to remain with the reigning Super Bowl champions.
Barrett has been one of the NFL's most prolific pass rushers over the past two seasons and earned $15.8m in 2020, when he played under the franchise tag after leading the league with 19 and a half sacks in 2019.
The 28-year-old's new deal was made possible by Tom Brady's extension that cleared $19m in salary cap space, and includes $36m guaranteed, agent Drew Rosenhaus confirmed on Monday.
It is the fourth move general manager Jason Licht and coach Bruce Arians have made in a week to ensure key members of their title-winning team would not test the open market during free agency.
The team placed the franchise tag on wide receiver Chris Godwin and signed linebacker Lavonte David to a salary-cap friendly, two-year deal worth up to $25m.
Brady then followed by agreeing to an extension that will keep the seven-time Super Bowl champion under contract until the end of the 2022 season.
Tight end Rob Gronkowski, defensive lineman Ndamukong Suh, wide receiver Antonio Brown, running back Leonard Fournette and kicker Ryan Succop are among the other players the Buccaneers would like to keep.
Re-signing Barrett, however, was among the organisation's top priorities after he followed his 2019 breakthrough season.
Barrett registered eight regular-season sacks in 2020 and four more during Tampa Bay's playoff run, including three in the NFC Championship game and one in the Super Bowl.
He spent the first five seasons of his career primarily as a backup with the Denver Broncos before originally signing a one-year, $4m deal with Tampa Bay in 2019.
