The Seattle Seahawks are wheeling and dealing. Having secured a projected four compensatory picks, contributing to their 11 total selections in the 2020 draft, John Schneider is jumping in to second-wave Free Agency action—which crucially will not affect the comp pick formula.
One potential addition is Gerald McCoy. The 31-year-old defensive tackle is currently still on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers roster. But it appears him being cut is a matter of when and not if. Trevor Sikkema, of Pewter Report and The Draft Network, told me as much:
“I still think McCoy has played his last down for the Buccaneers. It’s a relationship that seems to be broken beyond repair. I think they wanted to get a third or fourth round pick for him but didn’t get any takers. It’s tricky for the Bucs because they want to avoid cutting him and getting nothing for him, but the Bucs need his 13M cap space and other teams know that. So they are likely to wait it out, wait for him to be cut so they can sign him to a more favorable deal. The question now become how much hardball the Bucs will play, and for how long.”
The cut is going to happen. Just look at Tampa Bay’s dire cap situation, not helped by the Front Office’s policy of not restructuring or converting existing deals:
Good explanation from @Jason_OTC a few weeks back on calculating the cap space needed for Bucs to sign their draft picks — about $5.8 million total, which means they’re about $4 million short right now. https://t.co/vnDUp3113r
— Greg Auman (@gregauman) May 9, 2019
McCoy would be an excellent addition as a 3-technique (outside shoulder of the guard) who is one of the best pass rushers from that spot in the league. On a poor defensive line, he had 6 sacks, 6 tackles for loss, 12 quarterback hits and 38 pressures in 2018. The pressure number placed 19th among interior defensive linemen in the league. (All per PFF)
McCoy would be a cause of pressure on the inside that would ease the burden on Jarran Reed and add to the “quarterback disruptors” element of the Pete Carroll defense. The 32-year-old Ndamukong Suh is the fashionable name, and PFF had his pressures at 48 which placed 12th. However, McCoy figures to be cheaper. He was also on a much-worse defense and didn’t worryingly ad-lib in the scheme, unlike Suh. McCoy could be a bargain addition given no team has wanted to trade a fourth-rounder for him.