The ink is on the paper and there’s no going back. The Panthers have officially signed free agent defensive tackle Gerald McCoy, a move first reported to be happening by Adam Schefter on Monday. The team just announced the news on their official website. McCoy’s contract has a reported base salary of $8 million with bonuses that could bring the total up to $10.25 million.
While that’s a sizable amount of money for a 31-year old lineman, McCoy might have gotten more if he’d signed with another team. According to Ian Rapoport at NFL Network, the Ravens offered McCoy twice as much guaranteed money as Carolina.
As for the Browns, it sounds like they tried to low-ball him. Jeremy Fowler at ESPN reports they wanted McCoy to take a significant pay cut and wouldn’t come near the total offered by the Panthers.
What sold McCoy on Carolina?
To hear him tell it, McCoy was impressed by the chemistry he saw when a group of key players took him out to lunch on Friday.
McCoy also probably wants some revenge on his old team. He texted Bucs beat reporter Rick Stroud that he’ll see him Week 2 for Carolina and Tampa Bay’s first meeting of the 2019 season.
