Linebacker Shaquil Barrett announced his retirement on social media Saturday, four months after joining the Miami Dolphins in free agency but just days before the team’s training camp.

“It’s time for me to hang it up,” Barrett said in an Instagram post. “It’s been a great ride and I appreciate everything that came with it over the years. I’m ready to shift my full focus to my wife and kids and helping with realize their dreams and catch em.”

He acknowledged in the post the retirement may seem like a surprise to some, but said he’s “been thinking about this for a while and the decision has never been more clear then it is now.”

Barrett’s abrupt announcement concludes a 10-year career that spanned stints with the Denver Broncos and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He won Super Bowl titles with each franchise.

The 31-year-old entered the league as an undrafted free agent out of Colorado State, signing with the Broncos in 2014 but not appearing in any games his rookie season. He made the Broncos roster in 2015 after tallying the most preseason sacks in the league, and played a key rotational role in the team’s Super Bowl run, starting six games.

Barrett remained a rotational linebacker in Denver until he left for Tampa Bay in 2019. There, he blossomed in a historic…

I had 20 years in the NFL in my back pocket when Nick Saban called me on a late May afternoon in 2005.

I remember the day like yesterday. I listened to the message on the 10th tee at Manito Country Club in Spokane, Wash., where I was living and working for ESPN at the time. I still had a flip phone. Nick had been the head coach of the Miami Dolphins for five months and had just finished his first draft as a head coach in the NFL.

I could tell by his tone — he was looking for help.

I had been the GM of the New Orleans Saints during his time as the head coach at LSU. We had never met, but we obviously knew of each other. I had dealt with his agent, Jimmy Sexton, many times while negotiating NFL contracts. So between the commonality of our geographic paths and Jimmy, we had a connection.

I remember hearing stories about how hard Nick — who announced his retirement Wednesday after 17 years and six national championships at Alabama — was to work for. And I remember our conversation, before he offered me the job, as we circled his lake on foot at his Baton Rouge, La., home. (He had wanted me to come spend a day with him. What he really wanted was for his wife, Miss Terry, to meet me, size me up and give the OK to hire me.)

GO DEEPER

Mandel: Alabama’s Nick Saban, college…

NFL team owners collect millions in revenue. They wield outsized power over their organizations and in their communities. They point to the bottom line, wins and losses, when firing coaches and executives, sometimes without giving them much time. But their own won-lost records appear nowhere.

Even people who follow the NFL closely might not know whether Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross owns a better record than New York Giants owner John Mara (he does).

They might not know whether female owners account for two of the five highest winning percentages since taking over their teams (they do).

They might not know that the only team without a traditional owner could lose 200 games overnight without dipping below .500 (the Green Bay Packers could).

They might not know that five of the last six owners to buy (rather than inherit) a team make up the bottom five in win percentage (they do — the lone exception is the Buffalo Bills’ Terry Pegula).

Some of these ownership situations are difficult to evaluate for reasons such as owners allowing their offspring to operate their teams. I’ve used simple criteria in ranking owners from worst to best win rates below. For our purposes, wins and losses are counted for owners after the NFL has approved their purchases; after an owner…