Buccaneers Super Bowl champion will play in 2025

Tampa Bay Buccaneers fan-favorite Shaquil Barrett is set to play in 2025 — but will it be in Tampa Bay?

Tampa Bay Buccaneers outside linebacker Shaquil Barrett against the Philadelphia Eagles. | Eric Hartline-Imagn Images

A former Tampa Bay Buccaneers Super Bowl champion came out of retirement to play for the team in 2024. And while he may not be back in Tampa Bay, he's made it clear that his return to the NFL isn't over.

Shaquil Barrett retired from football after the 2023 season, but he made a return late in the year to come play for the Buccaneers in Todd Bowles' system once again. His age is still showing, however, and the Bucs want to get younger at the position — and with Haason Reddick now in town, Barrett's skills aren't quite as needed as they were last year when the Bucs weren't generating sacks.

That being said, Barrett doesn't plan to go back into retirement just yet. JoeBucsFan spoke with Barrett's agent, Drew Rosenhaus, and he was pretty defintiive on Barrett playing football again in 2025.

“He’s definitely going to play this year," Rosenhaus told JoeBucsFan.

Jason Licht had previously told media at the NFL Combine that the door was "always open" for Barrett to return, but it seems unlikely. With Reddick on the roster, the Bucs will also have Yaya Diaby, Chris Braswell and Anthony Nelson in the rotation, and it would be tough for Barrett to carve his way there at his age.

It would be cool to see him in the NFL still, however, and Bucs fans will always remember him for his contribution to the team's Super Bowl run in 2020.

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