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Tampa Bay Buccaneers: 6-Time Pro Bowl Defensive Tackle Retires

Originally posted on Gridiron Heroics | By Matthew Brown | Last updated 4/14/23

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have seen some legendary players walk through their doors over the years. Especially in recent years as they chased Super Bowls with Tom Brady, many great players have joined the team. One of those players has officially announced his retirement. 6 time Pro Bowler Gerald McCoy has announced his is retiring from the league.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers Gerald McCoy Retires

McCoy was the number three overall pick in the 2010 draft. He earned his six consecutive Pro Bowl honors from 2012-17. In 2013 he was named first team All-Pro after generating a career high nine and a half sacks. He earned second team All-Pro in both 2014 and 2016. In total he played nine seasons with the team and put up huge stats. He spent one year with the Carolina Panthers in 2019 before never seeing the field much due to injuries.

Shorter Careers Becoming The Norm?

McCoy is the one of many to hang it up after about a decade of play. The amount of players that are retiring around the age of 30 has skyrocketed in the past half decade. Some of this is due to injuries but some of it is due to the increase in opportunities for players in a post-NFL world. The internet has given former players many opportunities to start a business, podcast, streaming site, and more. For McCoy, it seems that injuries caught up with him and for defensive linemen in general, knee injuries can be hard to come back from.

McCoy was a dominant force in the 2010s for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The current team now enters a time of transition after the Brady era. They have Baker Mayfield on the roster but he may just be a transition quarterback rather than a long-term answer. It will be interesting to see how the team retools this roster as it looks to compete in the NFC.

This article first appeared on Gridiron Heroics and was syndicated with permission.

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