The first thought that popped into Shaq Barrett's head when he heard the Tampa Bay Buccaneers had won the coveted Tom Brady free agency sweepstakes involved a lot of winning.

"I was thinking 'We're going to the championship.' I was excited," Barrett said on Sirius XM NFL Radio. "He puts us right at the top of anything. The way we were playing late last year as a defense, we feel like the sky's the limit for us. We should be able to make a lot of noise this year."

Of course, if the Buccaneers do make it all the way to the Super Bowl, they will be the first team to play a "home" Super Bowl, as Raymond James Stadium is set to host Super Bowl LV.

Barrett, who is coming off his best season in the league and earned Pro Bowl honors, led the league in sacks (19 1/2) and finished second in tackles for loss (19). The defense as a whole was No. 1 against the run in the league (73.8 yards per game) but struggled to keep opposing offenses off the scoreboard — the 28.1 points allowed ranked 28th.

MOCK DRAFT:Who will Buccaneers bring on board to help Brady?

BUCCANEERS:Tampa Bay should take these 7 steps to become a contender

This isn't the first time Barrett will call a future Hall of Fame quarterback his teammate. He began his career with the Denver Broncos when Petyon Manning helped lead the team to a Super Bowl win in 2015.

Attendance during voluntary workouts was nearly 100% with Manning on board, Barrett recalled, and he expects more of the same in Tampa Bay with Brady around.

"It's like a whole different feeling," he said.

What separates the all-time greats such as Brady and Manning, Barrett said, is that they always find ways to put their teams in position to win ballgames.

"They always seem to make the play that you needed to make, at the right time," he said. "It's up to us to just like step up and defend it the next time. He set them up, put them in position every time for a game-winning something, and then we just had to step up to the plate and defend whatever it was because he always gave them opportunities."