Getty Ndamukong Suh looks forward to another big years with the Buccaneers.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers star Ndamukong Suh has double duty this offseason amid re-signing with the Super Bowl champions.
Suh and his wife, Katya, welcomed twin boys on March 26, two days after agreeing to a one-year, $9 million contract with the Bucs. Upon officially signing the contract on Monday, the veteran defensive tackle told the media about how he and Katya chose the boys’ names — Kingston and Khari.
“Kingston is the first one that came out, and my mother is from Kingston, Jamaica,” Suh said in the press conference. “There’s also some underlying meanings of king. A group of my friends, we all grew up in Portland here together, kind of see us as the four kings and whatnot.”
“So that’s kind of the origination, actually for both of the boys because Khari, his name has the meaning of ‘kingly’, so they both roam in that king concept,” Suh added. “So we love the names, and we each decided one of each. I did Kingston. She did Khari.”
“And there’s a lot more meanings to their middle names and whatnot, but I don’t think we shared them,” Suh said. “Their middle names come from their grandfathers, my father, a couple close friends, and, obviously, they got the great last name of Suh. They’ve got lots of meanings to their names to say the least.”
They also have some size according to People Magazine’s Benjamin VanHoose. Khari weighed seven pounds, 12 ounces, and Kingston weighed seven pounds, eight ounces. Both measured 21 inches.
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Playing Another Year
Suh, 34, ruled out retirement pretty quickly following his 11th NFL season according to NBC Sports Northwest’s Jonathan Warner. The former Nebraska standout became a free agent in the offseason, too, and ultimately chose to return for his this season with the Bucs.
“I’ve been super blessed from the standpoint of being able to have a ton of individual accolades,” Suh said in Monday’s press conference, noting that winning a Super Bowl added to that. “At the end of the day, I wanted to come back with a group of guys that have an opportunity to potentially go back and earn another ring.”
Suh said other teams showed interest in him, but he didn’t confirm which teams.
“Sky’s the Limit” for Bucs
Suh told the media that the team’s improvement last year amid ups and downs has him picturing what more this team could do with more depth in the draft and bringing the band back together. He praised what Bucs general manager Jason Licht has done already in building the 2021 roster as the Bucs will be the first team since 1979 to return all 22 starters from its Super Bowl team.
“Again, the sky’s the limit for us,” Suh said. “We’ve just got to continue to hone in, understand what coach (Bruce) Arians wants from each one of us and really embrace our roles.”
Suh did his part in 2020 with 43 tackles and six sacks, his highest sack total since the 2015 season with the Miami Dolphins. He has 562 career tackles, 64.5 sacks, and an interception.