Dolphins must revamp after new linebacker's surprise retirement

A former undrafted free agent out of Colorado State in 2014, Barrett took a bit of a slow start to his NFL career, spending his entire rookie season on the Broncos’ practice squad. The next year, though, Barrett almost immediately made it known that he should’ve been drafted. Leading the team in sacks during the 2015 preseason, Barrett made the 53-man roster for his sophomore campaign.

His first sack came in Week 3, and he eventually earned his first starts due to an injury to DeMarcus Ware. In six starts in 16 appearances, Barrett totaled 5.5 sacks in his first season on the field. The remainder of his time in Denver saw him vastly undervalued. He would only make nine starts in the next three years (all nine coming in 2017), but in a mostly rotational role, Barrett totaled 14.0 sacks during his time in Denver.

After five years in Denver, Barrett signed with the Buccaneers on a one-year, $4M deal. In a one-year audition, Barrett put on the performance of a lifetime. In Week 2 of his first year in Tampa Bay, Barrett sacked Cam Newton three times. A week later, Barrett upped his own performance with four sacks on the Giants. While that furious pace didn’t continue for a season full of multi-sack games, he did lead the NFL in 2019 with a career-high 19.5 sacks, adding 37 quarterback hits and 19 tackles for loss while earning Pro Bowl and second-team All-Pro honors.

Barrett never quite reached the heights of that career year, but over the next two seasons, he continued to be effective and disruptive, totaling 18.0 sacks, 38 quarterback hits and 20 tackles for loss. He earned his second Pro Bowl bid in 2021 after reaching double-digit sacks for the second time. His 2022 season was marred by a torn Achilles tendon that ended his season after eight games and last year, he returned to add 4.5 sacks and three forced fumbles to the defense.

Barrett found his way to free agency as a cap casualty after Tampa Bay made it known that they only wanted to bring him back at a reduced rate. He signed with Miami a couple weeks later as the Dolphins searched for some quality depth while Jaelan Phillips and Bradley Chubb recover from their respective Achilles and ACL tears. Phillips and Chubb were recently put on the team’s active/physically unable to perform list, so the Dolphins continue to lack experienced depth at a position group now led by first-round rookie Chop Robinson.

This late into the offseason, the Dolphins still have some options to fill in the outside linebacker spot in veteran free agents Carl Lawson, Tyus Bowser, Markus Golden and others. Lawson visited the team back in April, while Bowser has experience with new defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver from their time in Baltimore. They will have a little financial flexibility to sign a replacement as Adam Beasley of Pro Football Network notes that the team should get back Barrett’s $5.5M signing bonus and $6.8M cap impact.

For Barrett, though, his run appears to be over. While it comes to a surprise for many of us, as the 31-year-old was days away from attending training camp with the Dolphins, he claimed on his Instagram that he’s “been thinking about this for a while and the decision has never been more clear then it is now.” He gives the reason that, knowing how it feels and what it takes to accomplish your greatest dreams, he now wants to help his family to reach dreams of their own. Best of luck to Barrett and his family in their future endeavors.