Gerald McCoy rumors: Could the Pats actually sign him?

Recently-released defensive tackle Gerald McCoy seems like the prototypical Patriots acquisition, but he might be too expensive for this year’s club.

Speculation abounds that the six-time world champion New England Patriots could be one of the front-runners for landing Gerald McCoy’s services. After playing all nine seasons of his NFL career with the team that drafted him (the Tampa Bay Buccaneers), McCoy was unceremoniously dumped from the Bucs on Monday after refusing to take a pay cut.

With news breaking that Tampa intends to sign free agent DT Ndamukong Suh as McCoy’s replacement, it appears that the split was only a matter of time after all, even given McCoy’s continued excellence of play and the unexpected offseason injury sustained by Jason Pierre-Paul.

So where does that leave the veteran McCoy?

According to ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter, the defensive lineman wants to join a playoff contender (surprise, surprise), and “spots that would make sense include the Browns, the Patriots, the Chargers, the Jaguars, and the Cowboys amongst others.”

Of those teams Schefter lists, the Patriots stand head-and-shoulders above the rest if McCoy really does want to win. The Browns are an ascendant team on paper, but they still haven’t sniffed the playoffs in 16 seasons. The Chargers and the Cowboys are both contenders with obvious flaws who will need help to make a deep postseason run in 2019. And the Jaguars were a bonafide dumpster fire last year; though they did make the AFC Championship Game the season before.

Only the Patriots are a proven commodity. By signing with New England, McCoy would essentially guarantee himself a playoff berth (barring only a catastrophic injury to Tom Brady, perhaps), and could conceivably end up playing in a conference championship game and maybe even a Super Bowl, given how the Pats have acquitted themselves these past five years.

The problem for a potential marriage between New England and McCoy, though, is money. As Schefter notes, the dollars are certainly still a matter of grave importance to McCoy – after all, they’re the primary reason he’s even a free agent now to begin with.

The Patriots have little cap room to play with, and they still need to figure out a contract extension for their most important player (Brady). Even if they somehow manage to massage and manipulate a number of existing player contracts (or show certain players the door over the next couple weeks of offseason activities), the team is still miles behind the four other teams Schefter lists as suitors for McCoy’s services in terms of cap space.

Cleveland, in particular, might offer the stiffest competition to the Pats in signing McCoy. The Browns look absolutely loaded this year offensively and defensively, and the hype train is real: many fans and analysts think the team could legitimately challenge New England in the conference.

The best Pats fans can hope for is that McCoy is willing to take significantly less money and sign for something like a veteran’s minimum – just as a one-year rental essentially – in order to try and win a championship ring and have his play stand out in the process. It’s conceivable that such a bet on himself would earn McCoy even more money this time next year in free agency, when a team desperate for help along the defensive line could be more willing to overpay him – especially if he’s just been showcased on a premier winning team like the Patriots.

It’s really up to McCoy at this point. But without a shadow of a doubt, New England would love to have a player as talented and disruptive as him along their defensive line, which is arguably the weakest spot on what is otherwise a sensationally-talented and deep overall defense in 2019.