The addition of Gerald McCoy by the Raiders drew some mixed initial reactions. On the plus side, he’s a six-time Pro Bowler. In the negative side is the fact that he’s 33 and didn’t play at all last season due to a ruptured quad in camp with the Cowboys.
Many people probably forgot McCoy was still out there. Others probably thought there was a reason he was unsigned and perhaps that reason was injury related.
When it came out that he was at the Raiders facility for a workout, his signing was made official shortly thereafter, which means the Raiders were convinced quickly that McCoy still had the goods. At least enough of the goods to be worth signing.
“I just wanted to see what kind of shape he was in,” Raiders defensive line coach Rod Marinelli said of McCoy. “He’s been off and how he feels and all those things. He came in and really had a nice workout. You can see the pop. He got the twitch still and all of that. So, right now, we’re progressing him in and we’ve got him in some individual right now.”
He certainly looks like he’s in shape. He fits right in with the other defensive tackles who have been in camp already for over a week. I grabbed a couple videos of McCoy’s first few drills on his first day.
More Gerald McCoy #Raiders pic.twitter.com/T2b93fvTZ1
— Levi Damien (@LeviDamien) August 6, 2021
It was also worth noting that in between drills, some of the Raiders DTs were taking their turns getting technique tips from McCoy. The first was Solomon Thomas who is attempting to secure a spot on this roster at 3-tech DT, if not the starting job there. As it happens, McCoy’s addition could be one of the primary threats to Thomas earning his snaps. But McCoy is generous with his instruction just the same.
“Just his presence is really good with the guys. He’s a wealth of knowledge,” Marinelli continued on McCoy. “He’s played the position at a high level and it’s really great to have him here and it’s just a day-by-day process now.”
McCoy is worth a shot. From 2012 to 2019, he never had fewer than five sacks. He is joining a group of defensive tackles, all of whom the team is taking a flyer on in the hopes two or three of them will distinguish themselves and either live up to past potential (like Thomas) or past performance (like Darius Philon and Quinton Jefferson).