After suffering a season-ending injury in August 2020, Gerald McCoy has resurfaced on the NFL radar. The Raiders brought Pro Bowl defensive tackle in for a visit Wednesday, Field Yates of ESPN.com tweets.
McCoy signed a one-year deal with the Cowboys in March of last year but saw a torn quad end his season during Cowboys camp. The Cowboys released McCoy, and he spent last season out of football. This marks the 10-year veteran’s first known connection to a team since that development.
While McCoy is a six-time Pro Bowler from his quality run with the Buccaneers, the last of those nods came in 2017. The former top-five pick was one of the NFL’s best defensive linemen during the 2010s, but he is now 33. Although the veteran D-tackle missed all of 2020 due to injury, he displayed durability for most of his career leading up to that point. McCoy started 16 games in Carolina in 2019 and missed just eight games from 2012-18 with Tampa Bay. And he exited his Panthers season with 59.5 career sacks.
The Raiders have a host of veteran presences at defensive tackle. They return Johnathan Hankins and added Solomon Thomas, Quinton Jefferson and Darius Philon in free agency. Las Vegas did not spend any draft choices on this position this year.
He is the REAL MCCOY !!
And a comment like that could only come from the REAL NENTWIGS…lol.
Just another reason why this is a young mans game….. Does he have anything left….
It would probably only cost the veterans minimum and 1 year deal to find out. He does have value as a mentor if nothing else.
So Gerald McCoy does not need to play at a Pro-Bowl level to bring a helpful presence or improve productivity to the Raiders D-Line….
He does however, have to be able to leave the walker on the sideline….. Someone will get cut from another team that will have a better shot of making the opening day roster.
I am sorry that I missed this one….
Gerald McCoy wants to sign with the Raiders so that he can be the 4th player this week to retire.
The Raider had better do SOMETHING to address their interior defensive line. Hankins is a great run defender, but offers no pass rush. The opposite is true for Jefferson, while the depth is rather undersized. If LV is expecting anything from Solomon Thomas, they’re being way too optimistic. Perhaps Geno Atkins would be a fit?
Geno strikes me as a down to earth blue collar type guy. Don’t know if the glitter and flash of Vegas would appeal much to him.
Thomas was pretty decent as a rotational inside player in San Fran his last two years after they moved him there. He’s much more natural inside than on the edge, despite his lack of size for a typical inside player. That’s why the 9ers (and the rest of us) expected him to play on the edge. But since he moved inside as a rotational player, Thomas has been useful.
I think that they’ve got a bunch of people who do similar things. Not in play style, but in overall production. They have a lot of contributors, but noone to elevate their starting production. That’s not a place that really can be upgraded right now though, and I’d say that their defense has greater needs. The real problem to me is how Las Vegas has shed contributors on both sides of the ball while replacing them with same level talent at best. It’s like moving sideways. I get that they have time under this regime to outlast the competition, and that they’re trying to build a long-term culture, but they need to make actual upgrades and not replacements. Their moves at DT might not be spectacular, but I’d say that they have more urgent areas of need.
And…good to see you back, Wagner.
Thanks; good to be back.
What do you think some of those needs are? I would say run defense at linebacker is most apparent, as Littleton is a bit undersized for the position and that’s not exactly Morrow’s cup of tea.
I’m personally not a fan of Jonathan Abram, although they at least have Karl Joseph if the former continues to underachieve. I understand this was effectively Abram’s rookie season, but he just seemed to be constantly out of position. I did like the Moehrig pick though and think he can instantly contribute. I thought the signing of Casey Hayward really helped the secondary out, while Mullen looks promising. Conversely, Arnette looked like a bust
Otherwise, I honestly think the interior defensive line is among their biggest weaknesses. Nobody in particular is a huge liability, but there aren’t any standouts either. I think that’s kind of how I feel about the Raiders in general. Their biggest strength used to be offensive line; now it’s just runningback. Beyond that, I just don’t see what separates this team from the pack. Maybe I’m pessimistic, but that’s how I perceive things
In fairness to Abrams, it felt like most of the defense was usually out of position last year. While it could be true that some of these guys could be busts, I’m hoping that Bradley might have some positive contributions.
Hopefully, at a minimum, he can tell the one of the worst defensive groups in the NFL to stop posing for pictures every time they stop the opponent.