Buccaneers LB Shaq Barrett dedicates pick-six to late daughter
Tampa Bay Buccaneers linebacker Shaquil Barrett was able to dedicate the perfect moment in his team’s win over the Bears on Sunday to his daughter Arrayah who passed away in the offseason. Barrett is already playing the 2023 season in her honor but on Sunday, he was able to come up with a pick-six to pull the Bucs away from Chicago in the fourth quarter.
Smothered in his celebrating teammates, Barrett blew a kiss up to the sky to send Arrayah a message.
“I told her, ‘I love you, miss you and wish she was here,'” Barrett said after the game, via ESPN.
Against the Bears, Barrett posted the pick-six, as well as two tackles with a sack.
“It’s unbelievable. You can’t even fathom going through something like that,” Bucs coach Todd Bowles said post-game. “To see him go through it and come out on the other side — and I’m sure he still has days — but to play like he’s playing right now, to be where he is right now is unbelievable.”
In addition to tragedy in his personal life, Barrett is coming back from a season-ending Achilles tendon tear last October. He set the team’s single-season sack record in 2019, leading the NFL with 19.5.
Barrett working his way back from tragedy, injury
Barrett and his wife Jordanna recently announced that they are expecting once again. The couple have three other children, a daughter and two boys, and they’ll welcome another daughter in February 2024.
This offseason, the Bucs defender opened up about how he and his wife are dealing with their grief.
“It feels like we’re doing the best we can in the situation… to be honest and open with our emotions to each other and to our family, our friends and everybody who supports us,” Barrett said. “And not being afraid to be weak from time to time. Not even weak, just showing emotions. People have a stigma of being weak as showing emotion, but it’s not being weak… We’re strong together, we cry together. Everything we do, we do together, and that’s helping us stay closer together.”
Barrett, whose right forearm features a tattoo of Arrayah’s smiling face, announced the launching of the Arrayah Hope Foundation. The goal of the Arrayah Hope Foundation is to provide swim lessons for young children in Tampa to prevent tragedies if they unexpectedly fall into the water.
Barrett, 30, also plans to expand the program to Colorado — the state where he attended college at Colorado State and began his NFL career with the Denver Broncos.