NFL Free Agency: top team-player fits post-NFL draft
6. Corey Liuget and Tampa Bay Buccaneers
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have made it clear that they do not intend to keep defensive tackle Gerald McCoy on the roster for the 2019 season. Given that their salary cap currently sits around $2 million in available space, and the team needs at least $4 million to sign its’ draft picks, something has got to give. They have also signaled apparent desperation to move on from the former first-round pick, making defensive tackle a major need for the team.
The team chose not to draft a defensive tackle early in the draft, choosing linebacker Devin White over tackle Ed Oliver in the first round. In fact, the team stood pat at the position save for the seventh-round selection of Terry Buckner, Jr. from Missouri.
Despite fans clamoring to the opposite theory, there simply is not space under the cap to keep McCoy, and there is no indication that he would accept a pay cut to stay with the team. At 31 years old, who could blame him for forcing the team’s hand to cut him so that he could pursue greener pastures.
At any rate, the team must find a replacement to make McCoy’s cutting more palatable and former Charger Corey Liuget fits the bill. Slightly younger at 29, the former first-round pick is surely surprised by how thinly the market has been for him. We should expect Liuget to seek a one year, prove-it deal coming off of injury and a PED suspension in 2018.