Gerald McCoy Contract May Only Pay Out $32.3M Guaranteed
By Josh Hill
Gerald McCoy got paid on Saturday when he inked a seven-year extension with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. His contract might not pay out as much as initially reported though.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are committed to winning, and that all starts with locking up their best player for a very long time. Like Warren Sapp before him, defensive tackle Gerald McCoy is the face of the Buccaneers franchise and is the player the team is building around.
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A fresh seven-year contract extension was handed to McCoy this weekend but the actual figures may be lower than first reported. It sounds like McCoy is in line to get over $50 million in guaranteed money — and that’s a true statement but only partially so.
According to Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk, the Buccaneers may only be on the hook for roughly $32.3 million guaranteed with McCoy’s new deal.
"On the third day of the 2016 league year, the rest of the $51.5 million becomes fully guaranteed. Poor performance for the rest of this year and into 2015 could prompt the Bucs to avoid the additional $19 million. Even then, McCoy will have made an additional $32 million over the balance of 2014 and in 2015, along with the $5.2 million he’s already made this year."
This means that the Buccaneers could save money if they cut McCoy before that date in 2016 — but they’d risk losing every shred of dignity in the process. Even if McCoy performs poorly in 2015, there is no reason for the Buccaneers to move on from McCoy that quickly.
He’s the face of the franchise and the only pillar the team has to stand on. Without him, the Buccaneers are worse off than they seem and they’d be best off moving with the Tampa Bay Rays to Montreal. Cutting McCoy would signal one of the worst failures in NFL history, which is why this contract figure doesn’t hold as much leverage as it may seem.
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