Gerald McCoy “Remains Squarely On The Browns’ Radar”

Steve Doerschuk of the Cantonrep.com reports that Buccaneers DT Gerald McCoy “remains squarely on the Browns’ radar” and their interest in McCoy is “real.”

Doerschuk mentions that the Browns came away from this year’s draft without a defensive lineman and he believes Cleveland remains “quite interested” in acquiring McCoy.

According to Doerschuk, the Browns view obtaining McCoy as “realistic” even though there are issues in terms of money that would need to be resolved.

McCoy is set to earn $13 million in 2019 and Doerschuk says that no team including the Browns is likely to trade for him at that price.

If the Buccaneers are to trade McCoy, he’ll have to agree to a restructured contract to facilitate a move to a new team.

Doerschuk writes that it’s “clear the Browns are interested in McCoy” and it’s “clear they think they have a chance.” However, it remains to be seen whether they would pursue a trade or wait and see if he becomes a free agent.

Doerschuk tosses out the possibility of the Browns including RB Duke Johnson in trade for McCoy.

Last we heard regarding the Browns and McCoy, Doerschuk reported that there’s a “real chance” Cleveland pursues a potential trade for him. 

However, Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times said he’s ran this story by “nearly every source that would have been involved and all said there has been no discussion between the principles of the Browns and Bucs or McCoy’s representatives about a possible trade.”

Michael Lombardi reported that the Buccaneers are shopping him “hard” in trade talks, but getting little interest from other NFL teams. Lombardi adds that NFL teams are reluctant to take on McCoy’s $13 million salary, given that he has not played up to this level the past few years.

At the NFL owners meetings, Buccaneers new HC Bruce Arians specifically said that McCoy is “not as disruptive as he was four years ago” but is still a good player at this point in his career. 

“He’s not as disruptive as he was four years ago,” Arians said. “But he’s still pretty disruptive. He’s still a good player.”

McCoy has been mentioned as a possible trade candidate this offseason, so this is clearly something worth keeping an eye on moving forward. 

McCoy, 30, is a former first-round pick of the Buccaneers back in 2010. He’s currently in the fifth year of his seven-year, $95.2 million contract and set to make base salaries of $13 million and $10 million over the next two years of the agreement. 

According to OverTheCap.com, releasing or trading McCoy would free up $13 million of available cap space while creating no dead money. 

In 2018, McCoy appeared in 14 games for the Buccaneers and recorded 28 tackles, six sacks, and a pass defense. Pro Football Focus has him rated as the No. 28 interior defender out of 112 qualifying players.

We’ll have more regarding McCoy as the news is available.