Jason Pierre-Paul returns to the Buccaneers after sitting out nearly 2 years

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — The Tampa Bay Buccaneers turned to a familiar face to bolster their pass rush.

Three-time Pro Bowl edge rusher Jason Pierre-Paul was signed to the team’s practice squad on Tuesday, nearly two years since he last played in an NFL game.

Pierre-Paul, who had 9 1/2 sacks for the 2020 Super Bowl champion Buccaneers, joins a group that includes veteran Haason Reddick and third-year player YaYa Diaby.

“Obviously, I’ve been wanting to play football since the beginning of the year,” Pierre-Paul said. “(When the) opportunity comes, you’re there, so that’s basically what happened. There was an opportunity given and I made the best of it.”

The 36-year-old Pierre-Paul was selected by the Giants with the 15th pick in the 2010 NFL draft. He spent eight seasons in New York, four in Tampa Bay, one in Baltimore and played a few games for New Orleans and Miami in 2023. He has 94 1/2 sacks in 14 seasons.

The four-time defending NFC South champion Buccaneers (7-6) are tied for first place with Carolina. They host Atlanta on Thursday night.

“As far as the training, and I’ve been doing a lot of training with my personal trainer, he doesn’t stop, he trains every day,” Pierre-Paul said. “I think he got me in the best shape — I won’t say in my whole entire career, but damn near. I’ve seen the results, running around the lake and running sprints and running drills, I was able to kill the bad drills out there. I think I killed it and I just think staying in shape was one of the main keys and just not giving up.”

Larry Foote, the Bucs' run game coordinator and outside linebackers coach, views Pierre-Paul as a voice players can relate to. Pierre-Paul hasn't played since Dec. 11, 2023, so it's not quite like Philip Rivers coming back to the Indianapolis Colts after sitting out the last four seasons.

”(He’s) a guy that can bring some of the intangibles that we cannot bring as coaches that I think he can help,” Foote said. “That’s the way I’m looking at it. His energy and his juice. ... We’ll see what he can do the next couple of weeks. This is a short week, see if he (has) something in the tank. We worked him out and he looked good; I worked him out personally and he can still move and bend and he (has) that God-given freaky ability, and we’ll see what he can do next week.”

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FILE -Tampa Bay Buccaneers outside linebacker Jason Pierre-Paul (90) fires up the crowd during a NFL divisional playoff football game between the Los Angeles Rams and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Sunday, Jan. 23, 2022 in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Menendez, File)

TORONTO (AP) — Canada's ambassador to the U.S. for the last six years said Tuesday she's resigning next year as the two major trading partners plan to review the free trade agreement.

Ambassador Kirsten Hillman said in a letter it is the right time to put in place someone who will oversee talks about the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement that is up review in 2026.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said Hillman “prepared the foundations for Canada in the upcoming review" of the agreement.

Carney noted she’s one of the longest-serving ambassadors to the United States in Canada's history.

Former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appointed Hillman in 2017. She was the first woman appointed to the role.

Hillman helped lead the trade negotiations during U.S. President Donald Trump’s first term and worked with U.S. and Chinese officials to win the release of two Canadians detained in China.

Dominic LeBlanc, the minister responsible for Canada-U.S. trade, and Hillman had been leading trade talks with U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer.

U.S. Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra said on social media that Hillman has been an “awesome and well-respected” contributor to the U.S.-Canada relationship.

“I value your friendship and wish you all the best in your next adventure. You will be missed,” Hoekstra said.

Trump ended trade talks with Carney in October after the Ontario provincial government ran an anti-tariff advertisement in the U.S., which upset the U.S. president. That followed a spring of acrimony, since abated, over Trump's insistence that Canada should become the 51st U.S. state.

Asked this week when trade talks would resume, Trump said, “we'll see.”

Canada is one of the most trade-dependent countries in the world, and more than 75% of Canada’s exports go to the U.S. Most exports to the U.S. are exempted by the USMCA trade agreement but that deal is up for review.

Carney aims to double non-U.S. trade over the next decade.

About 60% of U.S. crude oil imports are from Canada, and 85% of U.S. electricity imports as well.

Canada is also the largest foreign supplier of steel, aluminum and uranium to the U.S. and has 34 critical minerals and metals that the Pentagon is eager for and investing in for national security.

FILE - Ambassador of Canada to the U.S. Kirsten Hillman listens during a First Ministers' meeting in Ottawa, Ontario, Jan. 15, 2025. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press via AP, File)