The NFL Draft remains the second-biggest event in the NFL calendar behind the Super Bowl. Like it or not, it also remains one of the biggest things that fans and media enjoy going back and analyzing to see “what could have been.”
Pro Football Focus has done a good job this offseason by launching a re-draft series, which we have been tracking here on Bucs Wire. In their latest draft, they looked back on, it just so happens to be one of the more impactful ones in recent memory for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers franchise: The 2014 NFL Draft.
One of the players who ended up as a Buc and made a monumental impact on the team was Shaq Barrett. He went undrafted in 2014 out of Colorado State, but in PFF’s re-draft, he goes 17 overall to the Dallas Cowboys.
Trevor Sikkema writes, “Barrett is the crown jewel of the 2014 undrafted class. He didn’t play any defensive snaps as a rookie, but in the 10 years since, he has earned an elite 90.0 PFF overall grade and an identical 90.0 PFF pass-rush grade. Barrett was a contributor for two Super Bowl victors, including the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2020. That season, he racked up a league-leading 98 pressures, 10 of which came against Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl 55.”
The impact it had on the Bucs’ Super Bowl 55 victory is often overlooked, in part due to the performances of other notable players on the team, such as Tom Brady. The defense, however, is what made the team win that game and broke Pat Mahomes early in it.
Without Barrett’s success during that season, the Bucs may still be searching for their second Super Bowl in franchise history.