Ndamukong Suh has finally added the Super Bowl champion to his list of career awards.
Following the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ Super Bowl victory, the 34-year-old defensive line is not ready to retire. Instead, he would like to return to the Bucs.
“My goal is to come back and get a chance to win a championship again,” Suh recently told Albert Breer of the MMQB. ‘Tom and I [Brady] talked about that event the other day, as well as Jason Licht. I do not know if you saw our parade celebration on that stage, Coach BA [Bruce Arians] said I’m not going anywhere. And he is usually a man of his word. So I look forward to the opportunity to keep playing, especially for Tampa. And I honestly believe I have a lot of elite, great talent in my ear to play. I’m not ready to hang it yet. And my wife gave me the OK, it’s in the first place that I got that permission. ‘
If Suh plans to continue playing a 12th season, it could be tricky to stay in Tampa unless he is willing to take a substantial saving – something we have not seen in his career. The Bucs have a good portion of the cap space compared to the rest of the league, but others are bigger priorities than the veteran D-lineman. Pass raster Shaquil Barrett, linebacker Lavonte David, receiver Chris Godwin and tighthead Rob Gronkowski are among Tampa’s free agents who want to be paid.
Suh made his presence felt in the post-season, including 1.5 bags of Patrick Mahomes in Super Bowl LV.
The veteran, who was named Defensive Rookie of the Year in 2010, has made three first-team All-Pro groups and five Pro Bowls in his career, but is not ready to walk away after earning his first Lombardi.
“Along with the fact that I can still have that energy, that fire to go out there, I think the biggest thing that pushed me during this season was knowing that I had twins on the way,” Suh told Breer said. “To make them come as champions in this world, but then I also play a few years, maybe five, who knows? That they can see me on the football field and experience that at a certain age they are going to be super young, this year back, but only for them to be able to experience that environment and be there [would be great]. “