4 Teams Who Should Sign Gerald McCoy

Gerald McCoy has widely been considered one of the best defensive tackles in the game for years now, but was released on Monday by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. McCoy is going into his 10th NFL season and definitely has some miles on him, but he can still be an impact player for most teams. With all of that in mind, here are four teams that should strongly consider calling up McCoy’s agent and making an offer.

The Browns were rumored to be interested in McCoy earlier this offseason, and he would make a lot of sense for the team. They don’t have a lot of interior defensive line talent, and Myles Garrett would love someone else to draw a double team. Cleveland still has cap space to spare and McCoy would provide a good veteran presence for their young squad, as well as impactful play. He’d be a good fit.

The Falcons were one of the worst teams against the run in the league last year. A lot of it can be chalked up to injuries on every level of the defense, but at the end of the day they don’t have any impact players on their defensive line other than Grady Jarrett. McCoy would eat up space and let Jarrett go to work on passing downs, and would give the Falcons defense the boost they need to have a bounceback year. Thomas Dimitroff is aggressive when the situation calls for it, and the Falcons want to contend for a Super Bowl after missing the playoffs entirely last season. They don’t have much cap space, but McCoy wants to win, and the Falcons are all-in over the next few years. Plus, staying in the division may play a factor for McCoy.

This would be a move consistent with Bill Belichick’s love of picking up veterans on the open market. The Patriots can easily be outbid, but if McCoy truly does want to compete for a championship over all else, it’s hard to think of a better destination. McCoy would be the versatile interior linemen they’ve been struggling to find since the retirement of Vince Wilfork, and would flourish as a part of a deep defensive line that puts an emphasis on rotations until the snaps truly matter. New England will undoubtedly be talking to McCoy. It’s just a question of if they can get the deal done in time before someone with more cap space swoops in with a big one-year offer.

The Seahawks are looking to build strategically after signing Russell Wilson to a massive extension, and signing an impact veteran like McCoy on a one-year deal would fall in line with that thinking. McCoy would be a beast in Pete Carroll’s defense and would do a lot to help overcome the losses experienced in the secondary over the last few years, especially the departures of Earl Thomas and Justin Coleman. McCoy would likely make sure the defense doesn’t fall off from the top-ten status it’s held over the last few years and give new Seahawk Ziggy Ansah room to operate.