Gerald McCoy Would ‘Love’ To Re-Sign With Buccaneers

Free agent DT Gerald McCoy said during an interview with Sirius XM NFL Radio on Monday that he expects to be a “full go” for the start of training camp after missing the 2020 season due to a serious quad injury. 

McCoy also mentioned that he would “love” to re-sign with the Buccaneers should it make sense for both sides.

“I would love to go back to Tampa,” McCoy said. “A lot of people had, they kind of misunderstand what took place between me and Tampa and they think it was; ‘Well, he left.’ Or ‘Tampa released him.’ Nah, there was more to it than that. All issues or whatever I had with Tampa, we worked out last season when I was with Carolina so let me kill this narrative right now. I did not go to the Carolina Panthers to get back at Tampa. If anybody thinks that football means that much to me that I would make a life decision based off trying to get back at an organization then they don’t know me so I didn’t go to Carolina to get back at Tampa. It had nothing to do with my decision and there’s not bad blood. Ya know, I talk to Jason Licht. I talk to the Glazers. I text all my teammates. I text these guys all the time, especially after they win and then win the Super Bowl, I was really excited for those guys. But with there being a situation where I could go back there. That would be great. I still have a home there and I’ve always loved Tampa. I grew up in Tampa Bay as a kid. I blessed to be drafted there and I’ve always wanted to experience winning in Tampa so it’d be great to be there.”

McCoy suffered a ruptured right quad tendon that cost him the entire 2020 season. 

McCoy, 33, is a former first-round pick of the Buccaneers back in 2010. He was in the fifth year of his seven-year, $95.2 million contract and set to make a base salary of $13 million in 2019 when the Buccaneers released him in 2019. 

The Panthers later signed McCoy to a one-year deal worth around $8.5 million for the 2019 season. From there, he agreed to a three-year deal with the Cowboys believed to be worth about $20 million last year before being released with an injury waiver during training camp.

In 2019, McCoy appeared in all 16 games for the Panthers and recorded 37 tackles, five sacks and two pass defenses.