TAMPA ― Ndamukong Suh is the co-founder of a development company which invests in residential, mixed use and commercial real estate.

He also knows something about how Super Bowl teams are constructed.

Suh will play in his third NFL championship game in five seasons Sunday, this time for the Eagles. He previously was a member of the Rams (Super Bowl 53) and Bucs (Super Bowl 55), who reached the big game with Suh clogging up the middle on defense.

The 36-year-old defensive lineman joined the Eagles before Week 10 this season, signing a one-year deal worth $2 million plus playing incentives.

Suh had two defensive touchdowns in 2019 and six sacks in 2020, when the Bucs went on to beat the Chiefs 31-9 in Super Bowl 55. He had another six sacks with Tampa Bay last season.

After playing on three separate one-year contracts with the Bucs from 2019-21, averaging $8.75 million per year, Suh became an unrestricted free agent again last March.

Only this time, Tampa Bay moved on from him.

The Bucs opted for a younger, marginally cheaper but less durable defensive tackle in 33-year-old Akiem Hicks, who missed six games due to injury and had one sack while earning $8 million.

Meanwhile, Suh watched and waited. He and his wife, Katya, spent a lot of time caring for their twin boys, Kingston and Khari, who were born in March 2021. Finally, Suh exercised his secret knack for selecting Super Bowl teams.

“I wasn’t going to go to any old team,” Suh told the Philadelphia Inquirer. “I didn’t want to go to a place I didn’t feel comfortable with and didn’t feel that I had an opportunity to be successful and win. I’m not going to name names, but there’s a team right now in the bottom half of the NFL that really wanted me before the season started, and I said, ‘I just don’t see it.’”

Suh will be seeing Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes for the second time in as many Super Bowl appearances. He recorded 1-1/2 sacks of Mahomes in Super Bowl 55.

So far, Suh has contributed 10 tackles and one sack as a rotational player in the Eagles defense that led the league with 70 sacks. If he plays 35 percent of the snaps in the Super Bowl Sunday, he could earn another $125,000.

What is Suh’s secret for ending up playing in the Super Bowl?

“I think it’s overall players and how the team is built,” Suh told FoxSports.com “It’s kind of what I look at from the broad scheme of things, but then also I have a lot of conversations with not only (Eagles cornerback Darius) Slay and (defensive tackle) Fletcher (Cox) and some of the other guys that are a part of the team already just to get a feel for how things were and what were some of the issues of why they had lost that game to Washington (in November) and stuff like that.

“So for me, I do my research. I’m not going to just go into something blind just because of some opportunity.”

A win Sunday would put Suh in rare company. According to Pro Football Network, only 66 players have won Super Bowls with multiple teams.

Bucs should land an offensive coordinator soon

Among the various reasons for delays in hiring an offensive coordinator, there is likely one predominant one: Some candidates are waiting to determine what happens with the Colts and Cardinals head coaching jobs.

Chief among them is Bengals quarterbacks coach Dan Pitcher, who interviewed with the Bucs for a second time this week. He has been waiting to see what the future holds for Brian Callahan, the Bengals’ offensive coordinator who interviewed for both the Cardinals and Colts head coaching jobs.

On Friday, Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer reported that Callahan had been informed he’s not a finalist in Indianapolis. Potentially, that could help Pitcher make a decision since he is considered a strong candidate to replace Byron Leftwich in Tampa Bay. But should Callahan leave, Pitcher would be the obvious choice to run the Bengals’ offense.

The Bucs have interviewed eight candidates for the position but haven’t pulled the trigger on one. Salary-cap concerns, with only Kyle Trask currently under contract at quarterback and 23 unrestricted free agents may not be huge selling points.

Hall of Fame players make head coaches

Four members of the Bucs’ Super Bowl 37 defense ― defensive tackle Warren Sapp, linebacker Derrick Brooks, safety John Lynch and cornerback Ronde Barber ― have been elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Not coincidentally, four assistant coaches from Tony Dungy’s staffs in Tampa Bay from that era became NFL head coaches: Herm Edwards, Mike Tomlin, Rod Marinelli and Lovie Smith.

“When you sit there and reflect on it, assistant coaches become head coaches because of the players they’ve coached,” Edwards said. “They allow you to get an opportunity to be a head coach. Them dudes, that defense, along with Tony (Dungy), the players on that defense allowed many of us to become head coaches.

“... There’s a misconception in sports (that) you get to make all the decisions. But the players go on the field. You have no control. You’re trusting them to do it.”

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