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Browns analysis: John Dorsey could make play for Buccaneers’ Gerald McCoy

By Steve Doerschuk
CantonRep.com sports writer

April 29, 2019


Browns GM John Dorsey is believed to have a post-draft interest in former All-Pro DT Gerald McCoy, who led Tampa Bay with 21 QB hits in 2018, and Bucs are in need of a RB

Now that the Browns have coursed through the early trading, free agency and draft cycles, the sense of whether 2019 is the time to “go for it” has changed.

Twice in an interview after becoming the team’s top draft pick last week, cornerback Greedy Williams predicted the Browns are going to Super Bowl 54 (that’s the next one).

If you ask general manager John Dorsey about “going for it,” his response might be coy. Behind the scenes, Dorsey might not be finished trying to microwave a contender.

Pre-draft reports out of Tampa Bay said the Buccaneers would gladly trade veteran defensive tackle Gerald McCoy if the price was deemed right. The draft came and went with McCoy still on the roster.

Dorsey’s interest in McCoy is believed to be ongoing, and the Buccaneers likely still have an appetite for getting value from him for the program new pilot Bruce Arians is building.

McCoy, who turned 31 shortly after Super Bowl 53, was a big star at Baker Mayfield’s alma mater, Oklahoma, before becoming the No. 3 overall pick of the 2010 draft. McCoy made first team All-Pro in 2012, 2013 and 2014, and at one point went to six straight Pro Bowls, the last of them after the 2017 season.

In 2018, McCoy had six sacks and a team-high 21 quarterback hits, playing 70 percent of Tampa Bay’s defensive downs (732 overall).


https://www.cantonrep.com/sports/2019042...rs-gerald-mccoy

This has always been an obvious solution to the McCoy/Duke Johnson situation.

https://www.dawgtalkers.net/ubbthreads.ph...ine#Post1610081

McCoy for Duke might make both teams and both players happy.

Not to mention Guard Dawg - he was calling for a 3T during the draft. Getting McCoy would give us a really good DT rotation.

McCoy is due to make $13 million in 2019. I think that would have to change for us to take him on.

It would, but I don't think that would be a real battle. McCoy probably recognizes his situation. I heard him interviewed a few years ago. Sounds like a bright and good guy.

Do we not have $13M after trading Duke and his salary? (This is not a facetious question - I'm not a cap guy.)

If we just waited it out it sounds like the Bucs will eventually cut him anyway.



https://www.bucsnation.com/2019/4/28/185...gency-nfl-draft

Thanks for the shout out Dave, and the acknowledgment Vers. McCoy would be great in rotation.

I asked Jason Licht about the Bucs' salary cap situation, since, as it stands, Gerald McCoy is still on their roster, they have under $2 million in cap space and need roughly $9 million to pay their draft picks. "There's always ways," he said. I then asked if he foresaw having to make lot of roster moves to free up money. "We don't have to," he said.

http://www.espn.com/espn/now?nowId=21-41062974-4

Sounds OK if he can be in a rotation. Not at his price, but sensible to cap, OK.

Dorsey is in charge.

Looks like an opportunity to maybe do another round of shopping.

j/c

I'm not sure why people are worried about his cap number this year. We have 33m in space, and without a first rounder, we won't have much of a cap hit by the draftees (est 4.7m per over the cap). After the Duke dead cap (4m), we'd have 11.3m left over. And, we could cut him after this season if we wanted without any impact on future caps.

If we wanted a cap friendly hit this season, we'll have dead money next season - it'd mean we need to include negotiations as part of the draft deal and whatever money up front would be split across the terms of the deal. So say we re -sign him for 3 years 30 million with 10m guaranteed (instead of the 38.4m he's due the next 3 years) and cut him after this season, we'd be on the hook for 6.67m in dead cap next year. I'd much rather have him for a season at 13m with no future ramifications than have him at a little bit of a discount this season and dead space next year (as of now, spotrac shows 12.5m in space next year). Just my opinion.

In theory, this move would be great. In practice, I'm not sure.

Who would we be moving to the bench? Ogunjobi or Richardson? Or do we think McCoy will be happy with coming off the bench?

Also, some injuries get better. Some only linger and get worse. McCoy has had a lot of those lingering type injuries. At some point, they are going to add up.

I'd love him at the right price, especially if he was okay being part of a rotation and limiting his snaps some. Try to keep him healthy for important moments. Maybe we can finally start getting some of those Super Bowl aspiration discounts on veterans.

j/c:

The amount of playing time for the defensive line should not be confused w/the offensive line.

D-lines rotate their players more than any other unit. Those big guys get tired fending off blockers and running down QBs and ball carriers.

There will be plenty of snaps for McCoy, should we decide to acquire him.

I could be wrong but I believe our dline utilization was crazy high. Having a guy like McCoy who can get to the qb playing 3T would be nice

It's not the available snaps that potentially concern me. It's that the more psychological aspect of being "the starter" matters to some guys could potentially come into play. McCoy didn't like coming off the field in Tampa when he was playing hurt. I'm not sure how he'd take being on the sidelines if healthy.

If he's fine with it, great. It's hard for some guys to not be "The Guy" sometimes if they've always been that, though. It's just a thought that felt worth considering.

He's had some sort of injury or other in all of the past 5 seasons. (Link)

But, He's still played nearly 3/4 of his teams defensive snaps as a DT in all of those years. (TB Snap Counts Link)

It doesn't necessarily mean anything, and he could be a great fit for us. It's just something that could possibly be a part of the decision if a trade doesn't come to pass.

Wouldn't hurt as much if the Browns had used one of their picks on Mike Weber, Rb OSU who went to the Cowboys late,... I was asking for.

Can't make Dorsey change his style, if this kind of thing occurs and repeats you'll end up with an older roster sooner.

It's a non story unless it happens.

Do we really need another scat back? One could argue we've got it pretty well covered between Chubb showing nice hands to go with his running, Hunt, and Hilliard in that mold as well. We also have Landry who kind of has a RB build.

Not trying to contradict you, just kind of thinking "out loud."

We might could use a bigger back more possibly, like the UDFA we signed from the U. Though Chubb has pretty good leg drive for short yardage, too.

(my sentence construction is awkward as heck anymore. Had an instructor who insisted everything be written in ~4ish word bullet points, and it's got me completely FUBAR'ed lol)

I think they need 4.

It seriously warms my heart to see the squealers cap space. They have some issues.

Make the trade.

Regardless of what their GM says it sounds like he’s a likely cut. Whereas Duke is not. McCoy getting cut means we give nothing to get him and we negotiate a new contract. The downside being we’re competing for his services. But he’s taking a pay cut regardless in any scenario other than a trade or them somehow eating his number this year. He being 31 means he’s got 1, maybe 2 years of decent productivity left. Definitely don’t want to take any contracts with guaranteed money in years 2 or 3. And he’s got to accept being a rotation guy, just no getting around that. I hope it isn’t a Duke for Mcoy trade, that doesn’t seem like a good value trade to my inexpert eyes.

The concern about waiting for him to get cut is Tampa Bay making a deal with another team.

I worry about his age/cap number a bit, but I don't know his future cap numbers either. If it's a one year deal where we just absorb the hit? Sure!

I believe there are three years left on his contract but no dead money for a team that has him.

I, too, am concered with age and taking on $13M, especially if Duke is involved where he'd be a important piece offensively, younger, and much cheaper. Hell, if we are serious about trading Duke, I'd rather get future picks or a younger player(s) with upside than a guy on, potentially, his last legs. Someone else mentioned this, but I cannot imagine trading for McCoy without some sort of contract restructuring. I could see him being outright released because he might not want to restructure.

It's these types of moves I hate seeing other teams do....take on a big contract and a name that was worth more years ago than today. Especially if he's going to be in a rotation and behind Richardson & Ogunjobi.I get the need to have a rotation of 3Ts on the interior but I'm not not all that excited with this type of transaction if it would go through.

I guess the best case scenario IMO would see him released and then we sign him to a much lesser contract than he currently has with TB.

j/c:

The trouble w/waiting for McCoy to be released has been mentioned in fragments, but it's worth noting.

--You run the risk of TB trading him to another team.

--You compete against other teams when trying to sign him.

--His price might go up if teams are competing for him.

I think it would be much wiser to trade for him w/two caveats:

--First and foremost, is he still a good player?

--Is he wiling to redo his contract?

I don't know the answers to those questions.

During free agency I was saying this is EXACTLY the type of guy we need to be paring with Baker on his rookie deal. Productive vet nearing the end of his career, desperate to have a playoff run.

Teams near the cap are always pushing money around. One way to do this is to convert part of a player's salary to a signing bonus, which spreads the cap hit over multiple years.

On one hand, this is somewhat akin to kicking the can down the road as the cap hit just shows up in future years. On the other hand, as long as the cap keeps going up, this represents a smaller percentage of the cap in future years. Smart teams can get an edge by taking advantage of this, but it doesn't make up for overpaying marginal players (the mistake that most teams with cap problems make.)

Good point.

j/c,

I still think that we have a need (a hole) for another DT on our roster for a rotational guy ... If not McCoy, then somebody needs to be brought into the fold.

j/c

His current contract, that we would take on should we trade for him:
https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/tampa-bay-buccaneers/gerald-mccoy-6512/

2019: $13 million salary, no bonus, no guaranteed
2020: $10 million salary, $2.5 million bonus on 3rd day of league year, no guaranteed
2021: $10.432253 million salary, $2.5 million bonus on 3rd day of league year, no guaranteed


We could easily absorb all of that.
We could cut him at any time without any real impact.
We could re-work his deal to a new four year deal that converts most of that to a signing bonus and performance escalators with smallish salaries - that puts a fat chunk in his pocket now, lets us spread that hit over four years, lowers our outlay to retain him, and keeps him chasing performance to hit those escalators. Win-Win.

I don't know why would want to do for a 31 year old player and be on the hook for his bonus until he is 35/36 years old but the other two seem like more realistic options.

If we would get McCoy, I think it would be with the short term in mind, not offering him a four-year deal where his contact is on the books when trying to make space for Garrett, Mayfield, and Beckham.

They would have to agree to eat some salary no doubt.

You would only do it to make him more affordable in those later years by way of front-loading the deal to eat as much of it as you can this year and next. I wouldn't do it at all except it is a small show of faith to a veteran that you still want to produce. Then again, $10 million per year is a pretty solid carrot to dangle, too.

I look at the way Dorsey has structured free agent contracts, and he is not one for shoving additional money into future seasons.

Look at Richardson's deal:

Sheldon Richardson Contract Details, Salary Cap Charges, Bonus Money, and Contract History | Over The Cap
https://overthecap.com/player/sheldon-richardson/2194/

This is likely how Dorsey would structure any longer term deal with a 30+ year old veteran player.

Good point by all ... I think it's probably a question of how good we still think he is