Oct 13, 2024; New Orleans, Louisiana, USA; Detailed view of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers helmet against the New Orleans Saints during the first half at Caesars Superdome. Mandatory Credit: Stephen Lew-Imagn Images Credit: Stephen Lew-Imagn Images

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers find themselves directly in the mix for the NFC South title with only two games left in the season. And on Friday, the team opted to bring back one of the biggest pieces to their past Super Bowl-winning team.

In 2021, the Buccaneers were able to bring a Super Bowl championship back to Tampa Bay thanks in large part to the great play of star edge rusher Shaq Barrett, who of course had a sack and a tackle for loss in Super Bowl LV against the Kansas City Chiefs.

During his time in Tampa, Barrett reached two Pro Bowls as one of the best edge rushers in the league. But recently, he has been a non-factor after signing with the Miami Dolphins this past offseason and then announcing his retirement from football.

In November, Barrett applied for reinstatement but didn’t play a single down for the Dolphins before being waived by the organization earlier this week.

On Friday, Barrett cleared waivers, which meant that he was free to sign with any team. And perhaps unexpectedly, Barrett will be returning back to the Buccaneers, signing a contract for the remainder of the season to help out the Bucs’ playoff push according to Ian Rapoport on NFL Network.

It’s unclear how big of a role Barrett will play in his return to Tampa. After all, he may not be in game shape considering he hasn’t played in an NFL game this season.

However, given his past success as a Buccaneer, it’s a move that is at least somewhat enticing to Bucs fans.

Any help the Bucs can get is welcome considering winning is crucial for the remainder of the season.

Currently, the Bucs are tied with the Atlanta Falcons in first place in the NFC South. But it is the Falcons, who won both head-to-head games against the Bucs, who hold the tiebreaker for the division lead.

This means that the Bucs will of course need to focus on winning out and hoping that the Falcons slip up at some point down the stretch of this season.

The first step in that goal is for the Bucs to win in Week 17 against the Carolina Panthers. So it will be interesting to see if Barrett gets a premiere role on the Bucs defensive line in that game.

[Ian Rapoport]

About Reice Shipley

Reice Shipley is a staff writer for Comeback Media that graduated from Ithaca College with a degree in Sports Media. He previously worked at Barrett Sports Media and is a fan of all things Syracuse sports.