Gerald McCoy’s Future With Buccaneers In Doubt

On Tuesday, Buccaneers new HC Bruce Arians made it clear that veteran DT Gerald McCoy‘s future in Tampa Bay is in doubt.

“Probably a better question for (general manager) Jason (Licht) because the financial is a big part of it,” Arians said when asked if McCoy would be with the team in 2019, via Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times. “I got to evaluate him. I mean, guys when they age, it’s different.”

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.”

Beyond that, Arians said McCoy is at the point in his career where there are questions about whether his productivity will his compensation. 

“Usually they’re at the age when they get paid the most and the production don’t match,” Arians said. “So we’ve got to find that out. If guys don’t show up, don’t ask me about them because I talk about the guys that show up. Hopefully we’ll see how that goes.”

McCoy has been mentioned as a possible cap casualty 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 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.