Gerald McCoy, 2010
McCoy headed to Tampa Bay one spot after the Lions grabbed Ndamukong Suh. The Bucs landed a very good player right away.
McCoy fired out with 28 tackles and three sacks as a rookie before an injury robbed him of nearly a full season. He came back with a vengeance. In 2012, McCoy earned the first of six straight Pro Bowl nods. He was an All-Pro in 2013 with a career-high 9.5 sacks. No doubt McCoy has been a very good player.
But it didn’t really help the Buccaneers.
McCoy never tasted the postseason in his nine seasons in Tampa Bay. The Bucs defense improved from 27th to 15th in his rookie year and they won 10 games, but the offensive improvement centered around QB Josh Freeman’s one competent NFL season (the Bucs improved from 27th to 9th) was the primary reason for the win total.
The Bucs’ ranks on defense thereafter:
2011 – 31st
2012 – 17th
2013 – 28th
2014 – 28th. Remember, this was McCoy’s All-Pro season.
2015 – 25th
2016 – 22nd
2017 – 18th
2018 – 23rd
Despite having McCoy, one of the NFL’s best DTs for the better part of a decade, the Buccaneers never once finished with a defense that ranked in the upper half of the league. They lost 10 or more games six times in eight years.