The Tampa Bay Buccaneers want to bring back their leading tackler from the last four seasons, but it’s going to come down to the price tag middle linebacker puts on himself.

Ruud has been trolling for a new contract since 2009 and now he’s set to enter the free market if the Bucs can’t present him with an offer to his liking. The key question, as in all negotiations, is whether or not the sides can find some common ground.

As Roy Cummings of the Tampa Tribune noted, Ruud has not been selected to the Pro Bowl but may seek compensation at a Pro Bowl-level.

“Barrett had another good season for us,'' Bucs agent Mark Dominik said. "He led our team in tackles again and he had more splash plays for us this year than he did the year before, which was good. Now we just have to sit down with his agent.

"As these things always go, there's always two sides to it. Just because you say you want to sign him and because they say they want to be back, that doesn't mean that's how it's going to work out.''

Ruud has been consistent that he would like to return but told Cummings, “there is a lot of uncertainty right now.”

"We have to look at each player individually and figure out what we're going to allocate for that position and for that player specifically,'' he said. "We (did) that last year with (left tackle) Donald Penn's extension, and we’re just going into that phase right now (with everyone else).''

Dominik said the team wants to re-sign left guard Davin Joseph and the Bucs have been on the record stating they’d like cornerback Ronde Barber back.

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Brad Biggs covers the Bears for the Chicago Tribune