LeSean McCoy on Why He Picked the Bucs: 'I Wanted to Win'
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have been adding big-name veterans to one of the NFL's most explosive offenses all offseason long, and that trend continued when they signed running back LeSean McCoy to a one-year deal earlier this week.
The Bucs made the move official Tuesday morning, and McCoy is already making it clear that he picked Tampa Bay over other interested teams because he wants to team up with legends like Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski to win another championship.
“I think the biggest thing – where I’m at in my career – I had a couple teams reach out," McCoy said via video conference call Tuesday regarding his decision-making process. "No disrespect to the teams, but it didn’t fit. I wanted to win. I wanted to contribute. I needed something to push me. I want to be with a group of guys that want to win and I think this is a perfect place. You talk about Rob [Gronkowski] – I’ve been friends with Rob for so long. Just seeing how he came back – you get that itch to compete. Then you bring Tom Brady here – with the group of guys they already had as far as young guys – I want to be a part of it, I really do. It’s a mixture of leadership with age and also the youth and talent.”
McCoy was with the Kansas City Chiefs last year, though he was inactive for their Super Bowl victory over the San Francisco 49ers. He admitted that watching guys like Brady and Gronk come to Tampa Bay got his attention as he pondered the next move in his own impressive NFL career.
“I think most guys – once he signed here and then Rob [Gronkowski] signed shortly after – would want to play here," McCoy said. "But that’s kind of how it happened. They (Tampa Bay) always had an interest level with me. They contacted my agent a couple of times. It’s all about the right timing. I was waiting to see what was going on – [Philadelphia] was another big one that I really wanted to explore that option when they reached out. It just clicked at the right time. Enough waiting – let’s do it. Let’s get in there with the team, let’s learn the offense, things like that. I mean, come on – I’m in Tampa, nice weather and I’m playing with Tom Brady? How do you beat that?”
McCoy immediately becomes the elder statesman in a young and promising Bucs backfield that features incumbent starter Ronald Jones II, third-round rookie Ke'Shawn Vaughn, and talented role players like Dare Ogunbowale, T.J. Logan and rookie Raymond Calais.
His big-play ability and three-down skill set should give Tampa Bay's offense even more firepower as they chase a Super Bowl in 2020.
