Do you remember that 6th grade relationship you had where you held hands, passed notes, and went steady for five minutes? Then a week later they were sharing the locker of another. That’s kind of what it felt like to hear that Gerald McCoy had signed a one year contract with the Carolina Panthers on Monday.
As reported by Ian Rapoport, this contract is heavily incentive laden. The Suh/McCoy “who will make more money in 2019” question is answered by a big question mark. If Gerald makes all of his incentive benchmarks, which include $500k for 6.5 sacks, $1.5 million for 8 sacks, and even $500k if he makes the Pro Bowl squad, then McCoy wins the biggest contract prize coming in at $10.25 million. Whereas Ndamukong Suh signed a one year contract worth $9.25 million straight up.
With the two defensive tackles being so closely compared, it almost felt cosmically correct that both should end up together in the NFC South. Drafted #2 and #3 in the first round in 2010, both have played at or near Pro Bowl level for the greater part of nine seasons. Although both defensive tackles have different styles the NFL is a comparison league. The NFL media loves comparison stories, so let the ’Mc-Suh sackometer’ begin.
Already on the Panthers squad wearing #93 is ninth year veteran Kyle Love. Who also entered the league in 2010 as an undrafted free agent out of Mississippi State, and just signed a new contract with Carolina in April. Both McCoy and Love play defensive tackle so McCoy may acquire #93 if it’s a numbers game at the position for the Panthers. Otherwise, unlike Suh, who announced that he will be sporting #93 this year for the Buccaneers, McCoy might have to pick a new number.
Buccaneer fans should wager a weekend on the beautiful Pinellas County beaches against a weekend in the Carolina mountains that Suh will record better statistics than McCoy in 2019.
If Gerald McCoy had been a complete bust and only collected a check for the last nine years, maybe it would feel different. If the Walter Payton Man of the Year finalist wasn’t such a great guy, one would suppose not to wish him well. But this is not the case. McCoy collected six Pro Bowl’s and balled all the way. Quite honestly he played for some pretty bad Buccaneer squads over his career in Tampa.
So just as with that middle school relationship it should continue to be a clean break. The only downside could be if they are at the prom together next year, and you are home playing dungeons and dragons. But hey, sometimes you have to roll the dice. Good Luck, McCoy.
