Shaquil Barrett, family try to move forward after 2-year-old daughter’s drowning

TAMPA, Fla. — He misses her smile and reading a favorite book to her at bedtime, the one about the stars and the moon. Shaquil Barrett can’t remember the title, but he will never forget the way Arrayah’s face would brighten the darkest night.

“She just loves stars,” Barrett said. “I would be reading, and she’d say, ‘star, star,’ in just the cutest voice. She would call the moon stars, too. But she loved the stars and it just is everything.”

Barrett smiled at the memory. He admitted that Monday was one of his tougher days. He thought of how it would have been the first trip to training camp for 2-year-old Arrayah, who drowned in the family swimming pool in South Tampa in late April.

The Bucs outside linebacker had just finished his first padded practice since sustaining a season-ending torn Achilles in a Week 8 loss to the Ravens last October. Physically, he is healthy again and able to return to his job as one of the best pass rushers in the NFL.

Mentally, Barrett is coping the best way he can and grateful for the escape of football to provide a few hours from the sadness that can still envelop him.

“I’m appreciative to be back, to be able to do everything again and do everything a little bit extra for her because she’s not able to be here,” Barrett said. “It’s tough, too, because this would’ve been the first camp that she could’ve come to and actually remember. I thought about that, and it hit me hard. It’s the first day my family came today, so it just hit me hard.

“It’s bittersweet. Bittersweet because I know she’s in a better place, but I 100% prefer (her) to be here with us selfishly. It’s a lot that goes on throughout the day.”

Barrett didn’t provide many details about that awful Sunday morning when the lifeless body of Arrayah was found in the pool. He said he believed he and his family were taking the necessary precautions. “We’ve got all the gates,” Barrett said. “We’ve always had gates, but we left it open that night.”

Barrett and wife Jordanna were high school sweethearts and have three other children: Shaquil Jr., Braylon and Aaliyah. Arrayah was born two months after Barrett and after the Bucs beat the Chiefs in Super Bowl 55. He had just signed a four-year, $72 million contract with $34 million guaranteed.

On Monday, Barrett beamed when asked to describe Arrayah.

“She was the best,” Barrett said. “She literally was the best everything, all around. Smile. Her personality. Even when she was being naughty, she still was so cute. She was smart. She knew exactly what she shouldn’t be doing and she’d stop doing it and then go back and try to do it.

“I could go on forever and ever about her. It’s just her smile I miss so much. Her energy. Looking at the bed every night reading stories. She just brought so much brightness and wholeness and completeness to our lives.”

Unfortunately, drownings are far too common in Florida with all its pools to escape the heat in a peninsula surrounded by water.

“I was never, ever going to put one of my kids in one of those little early swim classes where they throw them in and let them figure it out,” Barrett said. ”But I recommend people do that.”

He hopes his cautionary tale will save other lives, which is why he and Jordanna have started a new foundation called Arrayah Hope, to provide the money for children’s swim lessons and home-warning devices to help prevent similar tragedies.

“We’re going to help out as much as possible with swim lessons for other families and start A.I. cameras for the families,” Barrett said.

“Because back when I was younger, I read a story where it happened to somebody and it was an NFL player, too, and I wondered, ‘How did that happen?’ But it was like a freak accident. It happens from time to time but now we’ve got all the precautions to prevent it from happening and that’s the way Arrayah Hope is going to be beneficial for a lot of families I hope.”

The foundation will begin in Tampa and Colorado, where the Barretts own homes. “As big as we can make it, we’ll make it,” Barrett said. “But we’re going to start locally at first.”

Barrett said he and his family have been overwhelmed by the outpouring of love and support from the Bucs organization and the community. They have sought counseling for themselves and their children.

“We’ve been able to come together during this tough time as a family,” Barrett said. “Everybody came together for us. Locally, nationally. Everybody came to us in our time of need and I appreciate everybody. The Bucs organization. Everybody came through with stuff that I wasn’t even expecting and we appreciate that.

“Jordanna has been really strong and we’ve been able to lean on each other but we’ve always been really weak together, too. We also have been sharing those tough times with each other, crying with each other, talking to each other. Spending time with the kids, letting everybody know it’s OK to still talk about Arrayah and still show emotion for her. That’s the way we need to remember her, as how much brightness she brought to our lives and try to bring that brightness to other people by talking about her.

“My kids, we did a little bit of counseling to make sure they were expressing everything they needed to express in case we were missing something. I feel like we’re dong the best we can in the situation and just being honest with our emotions with our friends and family and everyone who is supporting us and not being afraid to be weak from time to time. Not weak, but showing emotions because people have a stigma about showing emotions. But that’s not weakness, that’s having emotions. That’s just being in the moment and expressing how you feel.”

Amid the tragedy and tears, there is triumph in the Barrett family. A few weeks ago, Jordanna learned she was pregnant with a girl, who they will name Allanah.

“It’s amazing, especially knowing our other baby girl, Arrayah, more than likely had something to do with it,” Barrett said.

“We know there’s no replacing Arrayah. There’s nothing ever in this world that can happen to replace our baby girl. But having another baby girl, we’re super blessed because I wanted to have another girl. We would’ve been blessed either way, but having another baby girl, baby Allanah when she comes.

“At first, the whole situation makes me nervous in general about having another kid because accidents happen, but Jordanna said I can’t think like that. I’ve got to stay strong, have faith and believe. Once I heard the heartbeat, I started to relax a little bit and excitement took over and the worry went away. I’m just excited for my family, excited just in general to have a new addition to our family in February.”