Former Oklahoma star Gerald McCoy announces retirement after 11-year NFL career
Former Oklahoma star and six-time Pro Bowl defensive lineman Gerald McCoy announced Friday his retirement from the NFL.
The decision comes after playing 11 seasons in the professional ranks, although McCoy did not play suit up during the 2022 year.
McCoy will finish his career having started 139 of the 140 NFL games he played in during his career. He made the Pro Bowl six consecutive seasons from 2012-2017.
He spent the majority of his career with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, which was the team that drafted him No. 3 overall in the 2010 NFL Draft. McCoy played with Tampa Bay from 2010-2018.
McCoy was a first team All-Pro in 2013 and second team All-Pro in 2014 and 2016.
The Carolina Panthers signed him for the 2019 season and then the Dallas Cowboys picked him up in 2020, although he was cut before the season due to an injury.
McCoy played one game in 2021 with the Las Vegas Raiders before being placed on injured reserve.
Gerald McCoy was a standout player in college, too, at Oklahoma
Gerald McCoy spent four years in college at Oklahoma, where he emerged as one of the best defensive players in the country.
He redshirted his first year before emerging as the 2007 Big 12 Defensive Freshman of the Year. The next two seasons, McCoy was named as a All-Big 12 first team selection and as a All-American first team player.
McCoy was a five-star prospect out of Oklahoma City (Okla.) Southwest High. Retroactively using On3’s Industry Ranking tool, he is ranked as the No. 10 recruit in the 2006 On3 Industry Ranking. The On3 Industry is a proprietary algorithm that compiles ratings and rankings from all four major recruiting media services. The On3 Industry Ranking is the most advanced, complete and unbiased rating and ranking measurement in the industry.
Other notable players in that year’s draft class that were five-star players include Matthew Stafford, Percy Harvin and his fellow Oklahoma teammate DeMarco Murray.