Bucs to release Gerald McCoy, have interest in Ndamukong Suh

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are releasing Gerald McCoy but reportedly have interest in a potential replacement.

The Bucs informed McCoy on Monday of their plans to release him, The Tampa Bay Times’ Rick Stroud reports. They reportedly are interested in free agent Ndamukong Suh as a potential replacement.

With the release of Gerald McCoy, the Bucs have several options, and may move quickly to sign Rams free agent defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh, according to @tometrics.

— Rick Stroud (@NFLSTROUD) May 20, 2019

Tampa Bay apparently worked with McCoy on the matter and wants him to find a suitable home. They gave his agent permission to talk with other teams.

McCoy, however, may be better off than the Bucs. The team had given his agent, Ben Dogra, permission to talk to other teams to find a new home for McCoy, who should attract lots of interest from contending teams

— Rick Stroud (@NFLSTROUD) May 20, 2019

The two sides seemed destined to part ways. McCoy was set to make $13 million this season, which is an amount Tampa Bay did not want to pay. The team was looking to trade him but apparently did not find a partner because other teams did not want to pay that amount and surrender an asset to get him on top of that. If he is going to take a pay cut, it would be for a championship contender. There is an up-and-coming AFC team was said to have interest in the six-time Pro Bowler.

McCoy, 31, had not been participating in off-season activities for Tampa Bay. The defensive lineman had 28 tackles and six sacks in 14 games last season.

Report: Browns have interest in Gerald McCoy trade

The Cleveland Browns are building a contender for 2019 and may not be done making big moves.

The Canton Repository’s Steve Doerschuk reported on Monday that Browns GM John Dorsey has interest in trading for Gerald McCoy.

McCoy is owed $13 million for the upcoming season and could be moved by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in order to clear some salary cap space. He has reportedly been on the trade block, which likely explains why he hasn’t attended the team’s voluntary workouts.

The question is whether the Browns would trade for him. They added Olivier Vernon and Sheldon Richardson to their defensive line and already have former No. 1 pick Myles Garrett, as well as interior man Larry Ogunjobi. Is McCoy a necessity or luxury when they already have a stacked group? Switching to a 4-3 defense, Dorsey may believe adding McCoy to the mix would be helpful in giving them excellent depth.

If the Browns do look to trade for McCoy, running back Duke Johnson has been mentioned as a possible trade chip.

Gerald McCoy upset over lack of Bucs in NFL Top 100

Gerald McCoy is not happy over the lack of Tampa Bay Buccaneers on the NFL Top 100 countdown.

NFL Network has been doing its annual top 100 player rankings, unveiling 10 new players per week in a countdown order. On Monday, they unveiled players Nos. 30-21. So far, not one Bucs player has been on the list, and that’s not sitting well with McCoy, who called it “laughable.”

I’ve seen others players complain about the list before but the lack of respect for my teammates is actually laughable. Hahaha I get it though. #NFLTop100

— Gerald McCoy (@Geraldini93) June 12, 2018

Both McCoy and Mike Evans remain the Bucs’ best hope of landing a player on the list. It’s hard to imagine neither player making the list, but it’s also hard to imagine both being in the top 30. Maybe they will be. But McCoy certainly isn’t the first player to complain about the list.

Gerald McCoy rips school after daughter was called N-word by classmates

Gerald McCoy says his daughter was a victim of racism while at school recently, and the veteran defensive tackle is furious over the way the school’s administrators handled the incident.

In a series of videos he shared on Instagram, McCoy explained that some young boys were playing “Truth or Dare” when one of the boys was dared to go up to his 12-year-old daughter and call her the N-word. McCoy says the boy was “bold enough to do it,” and he ended up being suspended from school for one day. However, the longtime Tampa Bay Buccaneers says school officials did not call the McCoy family to inform them about the incident.

We have to stop letting these things be brushed under the rug. When is this gonna stop……….

A post shared by Gerald McCoy (@geraldini93) on Mar 1, 2018 at 12:17pm PST

“You would think that they would inform us, but that is not what happened,” McCoy explained. “We were informed by my daughter. It wasn’t until my wife had to email the head of the school and ask what happened and why we hadn’t been informed. The head of school said, ‘Well I was going to investigate, then let you know.’

“That lets me known racism is not being taken seriously enough. There’s no way, shape or form where that was handled properly.”

McCoy was further angered by the fact that one of his 3-year-old twins was sent home from the same school for a full week because the child had “potty training issues.” He said a school administrator told him comparing the suspension for the boys who used racist language to his 3-year-old being sent home for a week is “apples and oranges,” but McCoy does not see it that way.

“I’m not saying the administrator is racist, but what I’m telling you is things are not fair. … People are brushing racism under the rug like it doesn’t still exist,” he said.

If you remember, McCoy was one of the players who weighed in on the national anthem protest controversy across the NFL last year. It’s a shame his daughter would have to be subject to treatment like that anywhere in the world, let alone at her school.

Gerald McCoy: NFL would cause ‘uproar’ by forcing players to stand for anthem

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell sent a letter to all 32 teams on Tuesday informing them that the league would prefer it if players stood during the national anthem, but creating a rule banning anthem protests is not likely to happen.

And if it did, Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive lineman Gerald McCoy believes the reaction would not be pretty.

“I think it’s gonna be a negative reaction,” McCoy said on Adam Schefter’s podcast Wednesday. “I don’t think guys are gonna like it. I think it’s gonna be an uproar if that is to happen because you’re basically taking away a constitutional right to freedom of speech. If guys wanna have a — I guess you would call it a peaceful protest — I don’t think it’s right to take that away from guys.”

McCoy’s opinion is likely shared by most across the NFL. In his letter, Goodell urged teams to move past the national anthem controversy and wrote “we believe that everyone should stand for the National Anthem.” Donald Trump took that to mean the NFL was ordering players to stand.

It is about time that Roger Goodell of the NFL is finally demanding that all players STAND for our great National Anthem-RESPECT OUR COUNTRY

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 11, 2017

Shortly after Trump sent that tweet, the NFL released a statement clarifying that it has made no such demand.

“Commentary this morning about the Commissioner’s position on the Anthem is not accurate,” the league said. “As we said yesterday, there will be a discussion of these issues at the owners meeting next week. The NFL is doing the hard work of trying to move from protest to progress, working to bring people together. Commissioner Goodell spent yesterday with Miami Dolphins players, law enforcement and community leaders witnessing first-hand the outstanding work our players and clubs are doing to strengthen their communities. Players from around the league will be in New York next week to meet with owners to continue our work together.”

McCoy added that he supports any of his teammates who chose to kneel.

“I had two teammates who did it in Mike Evans and DeSean Jackson, that’s their right to do that,” he said. “And if they’re gonna do it, they’re gonna have support of the whole team.

“But if you take that away from them, there’s gonna be an uproar — it’s just gonna happen — because now it’s just like you have a voice at one point, but then you don’t at this point. And, that’s our right … it’s a constitutional right that we have, and if you take that away, I don’t think people are gonna take too kindly to it.”

We know one NFL owner who would be in favor of the league passing a rule about anthem protests, but Goodell knows that would create a public relations nightmare. The chances of a rule being implemented seem slim.

Gerald McCoy taunts Greg Schiano after Oklahoma dominates Ohio State

Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive lineman and Oklahoma alum Gerald McCoy got the last laugh in more ways than one when it came to his former coach Greg Schiano and the Ohio State Buckeyes.

It all started with Schiano, who once coached McCoy in Tampa Bay and is now the defensive coordinator for Ohio State. Earlier in the offseason, he said Ohio State’s defensive line was even better than the ones he’d worked with in the NFL.

McCoy took some offense to that — and upon seeing the vaunted Buckeye front collect just two sacks against his alma mater Oklahoma on Saturday night in a statement victory, he couldn’t help but take a major shot at Schiano.

Didn't a coach recently say this Ohio State D-line was the best they've ever been around? I wonder what that makes this OU O-line!?!

— Gerald McCoy (@Geraldini93) September 10, 2017

One of McCoy’s former Buccaneer teammates, defensive tackle Akeem Spence, even got in on the action.

He tried us bruh!!

— Gerald McCoy (@Geraldini93) September 10, 2017

Given the problems McCoy and the Buccaneers had with Schiano toward the end of his NFL tenure, it’s no surprise there’s little warmth there. The fact that his Sooners did it only makes things sweeter for the Bucs lineman.

H/T TheSpun

Gerald McCoy does not feel that Dak Prescott is struggling

Don’t try to tell Tampa Bay defensive lineman Gerald McCoy that Dallas quarterback Dak Prescott is struggling.

In McCoy’s mind, Prescott’s shaky play recently is an aberration, and the Cowboys, who will host Tampa Bay on Sunday night, are as good as ever.

“He’s having a great rookie year, man,” McCoy said, via Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times. “One of the top quarterbacks in the league this year and is very patient. Doesn’t let the rush affect him and he’s not really flustered that much. People are making such a big deal over two games or one game, whatever. They said, ‘Oh, the past [three] games the Cowboys are struggling.’ I think people just need something to write about. They lost one game in that span. One. What are they, 11-2? Golly, man.

“You lose one game and now you’re not the same team anymore? So what? I hope people are not basing predictions on what’s going to happen off them having struggles. They’re still the same team, they’re still the dominant team they’ve been.”

Thus far, the Cowboys seem to agree with McCoy. Tampa Bay is clearly intent on ensuring that they take the threat Prescott poses seriously instead of banking on another underwhelming performance.