After spending 11 seasons in the NFL, veteran defensive tackle Gerald McCoy has decided to hang up his cleats for good.
The 35-year-old released a video to social media on Friday that officially announced his retirement. The announcement will wrap up an impressive career that saw him dominate the NFL while playing nine of his 11 seasons in Tampa Bay.
McCoy ended up with the Buccaneers in 2010 after the team made him the third overall pick in the NFL Draft. It's not easy to live up to the hype when you're selected that high, but McCoy managed to do it. During his nine seasons with the Buccaneers (2010-18), McCoy was voted to the Pro Bowl six times while also being named an All-Pro three times.
His best season arguably came in 2013 when he was named a first-team All-Pro at defensive tackle after racking up 9.5 sacks for the Buccaneers. Overall, McCoy tallied 54.5 sacks during his nine years in Tampa, which is the fourth-highest total in franchise history.
McCoy's six Pro Bowl nods are the third most in franchise history, trailing only two Hall of Famers in Derrick Brooks (11) and Warren Sapp (7).
After his time in Tampa Bay ended following the 2018 season, McCoy headed to Carolina for a year. Although he had an impressive season with the Panthers that included recording five sacks, McCoy dealt with injury issues for the rest of his career and would only play one more game following the 2019 season.
McCoy did sign with the Cowboys in 2020, but he never got to play a down for the team because he ruptured his quad in training camp, which led to his release just before the start of the season. In 2021, he signed with the Raiders, but he was lost for the season after suffering a knee injury in Week 1. He then spent the 2022 season as a free agent.
With his retirement now official, McCoy will be joining an unfortunate list: He's now the 10th player since 1990 to play at least 11 seasons without ever playing in a playoff game (We used 1990 as the cutoff because that's when the NFL expanded the playoffs to 12 teams). McCoy joins Ryan Fitzpatrick (17 seasons), Takeo Spikes (15 seasons), Brian Moorman (14 seasons), Brandon Marshall (13 seasons), Sean Gilbert (11 seasons), Joe Thomas (11 seasons), Nnamdi Asomugha (11 seasons), Ken Harvey (11 seasons) and Eric Hill (11 seasons) on that list.
The Buccaneers finished with a losing record during seven of his nine seasons in Tampa Bay, and during that time they only came close to the playoffs twice. During his rookie year in 2010, the Bucs finished 10-6, but they missed out on the playoffs due to a tiebreaker. In 2016, the Bucs finished 9-7, but once again, they missed out on the final wild-card spot due to a tiebreaker.
In 2021, the Raiders made the playoffs while McCoy was on the team, but he didn't play in the wild-card game against the Bengals since he had suffered the season-ending knee injury in Week 1.
THANK YOU!!! pic.twitter.com/NxE9K4TfJK
— Gerald McCoy (@Geraldini93) April 14, 2023
Although McCoy never saw action in a playoff game, he seems more than content with his decision to retire, and you can see his full retirement video above.
