TAMPA, Fla. -- With metallic confetti still falling inside Raymond James Stadium -- the site of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' 31-9 Super Bowl LV win over the Kansas City Chiefs and the NFL's first Super Bowl won on home turf -- the talk immediately shifted to what it will take to win another.
Quarterback Tom Brady erased any doubt of him possibly retiring after a seventh Super Bowl victory, telling CBS' Jim Nantz during the Lombardi trophy celebration Sunday night, "We're coming back. You already know that!"
Coach Bruce Arians, who waited until age 60 to finally get his first NFL head-coaching job and age 68 to finally get to his first Super Bowl as a head coach, said, "Hell, no, I ain't going anywhere. I'm coming back, trying to get two. And then we'll see after that. But, no, this football team -- I love these guys. We have a great staff, a great team. Hopefully [general manager] Jason [Licht] and I can get together to keep most of 'em and try to repeat."
All three players who scored touchdowns -- tight end Rob Gronkowski, wide receiver Antonio Brown and running back Leonard Fournette -- were players Brady personally recruited and were on one-year deals. They've all expressed a desire to return.
Gronkowski, whom Brady lured out of a one-year retirement stint and who caught two touchdown passes Sunday, has felt rejuvenated since giving his body a rest, being in warm weather and being so close to his mother, Diane Walters, who lives in nearby Fort Myers.
"Yeah, I'll remain unretired," Gronkowski said. "I definitely see myself coming back. Just the guys around here, the players around here, the coaches, the people in the front office, they're all just great people and I love working with them all year long. I'm obviously going to soak this in and see where I'm at in a couple weeks, but I don't see why not. I don't see why I won't be back."
Many believed Brown was on his final chance to play in the NFL after being out of football for a year, and after a felony burglary with battery charge for striking a delivery driver and facing a civil lawsuit for sexual assault. He called Brady a "big brother" and credits him for helping change his perspective.
"I would love to be to be back here next year. It would mean everything to be back," Brown said. "I'm just excited ... super grateful. I'm ready to go. ... This is a great spot for me, and I would love to come back and give it another shot at a two-peat."
"You've gotta give Jason Licht a ton of credit for this football team," Arians said. "He put a great roster together, picking up those guys and still staying cap-friendly. We've got a very limited time to get into free agency, and we'll try to keep our guys, that's for sure."
On defense, outside linebacker Shaquil Barrett, who played under the franchise tag this year, expressed a strong desire to return. He's one of several key free agents on defense, along with inside linebacker Lavonte David and defensive lineman Ndamukong Suh.
"Well, I know there ain't no place I'd rather be," Barrett said. "So I'm pretty sure my agent is gonna get to talking to them, they gonna talk and we're gonna find a quick solution to this. Because I know, like, I found a home here. They gave me a shot. I earned a starting spot here. They gave me the freedom to play the way I wanted to play, and it's just been working out. It's been a perfect match since day one. The fans showed love since day one, like everybody showed all the love since day one, like I was already proven from when I got here, man. I love it here. I just wanna keep proving them right."