Buccaneers Great Gerald McCoy Signs with Raiders
After a year removed from the game, former Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive tackle Gerald McCoy is back in the NFL. Just, still not with Tampa Bay.
McCoy signed with the Las Vegas Raiders on Wednesday night after impressing the team in a workout, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network. McCoy ruptured his quadriceps tendon during preseason practice with the Dallas Cowboys last year, which kept him out of the game until now.
The Buccaneers let McCoy go after the 2018 season following nine years with the team, where he compiled 297 tackles, 54.5 sacks, 79 tackles for loss, six forced fumbles and 22 pass breakups. McCoy would go on to sign with Tampa Bay's NFC South divisional rival in the Carolina Panthers a month after being released, spending one season in Charlotte where he recorded five sacks and seven tackles for loss.
Despite his removal from the team a couple of offseason ago, McCoy has remained close with members of the Buccaneers and was an outside voice in Tampa Bay's Super Bowl run several months ago. McCoy celebrated the team via social media and had even suggested that he wished to be in on the fun.
"Gerald, we talk throughout the week. Gerald is one of my closest friends and one of my biggest supporters and vice versa," Bucs linebacker Lavonte David said last season after Tampa Bay clinched a playoff spot for the first time in his career. "He’s happy for me [and] I’m sure I have a bunch of messages from him being excited for me and everything. It’s an amazing feeling."
Now, instead, McCoy will receive an opportunity to prove what he has left in the tank, and perhaps will help lead Las Vegas on the path to the playoffs that he missed out on in Tampa Bay a year ago.
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