How hard the Detroit Lions have been hit by injuries this season is well-known, with a heavy concentration of them coming to a defense Aaron Glenn has managed to keep afloat in spite of all the notable absences.
Opportunities to add a player who can make a notable impact at this point in the season are rare, if not non-existent. Any vested veteran who's on a team has to clear waivers, and the teams they would most likely want to join are way down the waiver pecking order.
But a very unique situation stands seems to be giving the Lions an opportunity to add someone of note.
According to ESPN's Adam Schefter, the Miami Dolphins will waive veteran edge rusher Shaq Barrett from the reserved/retired list on Thursday.
Barrett signed with the Dolphins last offseason, but then retired just before training camp. In November he applied for reinstatement, which he apparently had not told the Dolphins beforehand. They elected to keep him on the reserve/retired list, rather than waive him and allow him to finish the season with another team. Not activating him before the late-November deadline meant he couldn't play this season.
With that in mind, as Schefter reported, Barrett can only play again this season if he clears waivers on Friday (4 p.m. ET). If a team claims him, he would be ineligible to play this season.
Lions should have easy chance to add Shaq Barrett
Beyond the obvious if him him not being able to play this season if he's claimed, the one-year, $7 million deal Barrett signed with the Dolphins in March makes it unlikely he gets claimed off waivers. So he would then be able to freely choose his next team, with a sure-fire tilt toward contenders.
Barrett has two Super Bowl rings in his career, one with the Denver Broncos as a rookie in 2015 and the other in 2020 with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. His best season was in 2019, when he led the league with 19.5 sacks as he finished fourth in Defensive Player of the Year voting. If he's in playing shape, and let's assume he is if he applied for reinstatement a month ago and wants to play, a number of contending teams could see him as a fit for their edge rusher rotation.
The Lions have two open spots on the 53-man roster, and spots on the practice squad are available. As Mike Payton of AtoZ Sports noted, bringing Barrett in could look a lot like the move to sign Bruce Irvin last year-just with a shorter timeframe, and ideally better results.
In a broad sense, the Lions should inherently have some interest in Barrett and if they do there should be immediate signs once he clears waivers on Friday.