Gerald McCoy says Bucs are now Jameis Winston's team
When the Tampa Bay Buccaneers take the field for their first training camp practice Thursday morning, there will be a different feel in the air. Aside from an earlier start time and a new head coach in Dirk Koetter, one of the team's most visible and vocal leaders over the last six seasons --Gerald McCoy -- will be quietly stepping aside, giving way to the new face of the franchise, quarterback Jameis Winston.
It's his huddle now.
"Me and Jameis had a private conversation about what he feels this team needs me to be as a leader," McCoy explained Wednesday, just after veterans reported. It involved a change in his role within the team and the 28-year-old said he's ready to embrace it. "You guys are used to seeing me do things a certain way. That's going to change because the face of the franchise came to me and said, 'Hey, listen. If we're going to win, we need you to do this, okay?' Our quarterback said this is what he needs, so this is what I'm going to do."
McCoy wouldn't reveal the exact details of the conversation, but the four-time Pro Bowler, known for his gregarious and animated personality, hinted that he was moving away from the spotlight.
"[I'm] passing the torch. Ronde [Barber] gave me the torch. I didn't ask him for it. He passed it to me. So, 'Here you go, Jameis. Go take us to the Super Bowl.'"
There was no grand entrance to camp for McCoy this year -- no bathrobe or pajama pants, and the vibrant red streak of hair he sported all last season is gone. Granted, there were no TV cameras or media present for arrivals due a change in reporting times, but even at the podium, he seemed ready to deflect attention. He did, however, show up at the podium wearing a towel over his shorts, but he said that was because he had just gotten out of the cold tub.
"He's an intelligent guy," McCoy said of Winston. "Young or not, [he's] very mature...very intelligent. He sits back, he watches and analyzes and he [saw] something that I could do to help this team be better. It's not hard to do. It's just a matter of me doing it."
McCoy knew the day would come but he didn't expect it so soon. He figured by the end of the season. Instead, it came in Week 2, right after the Bucs beat the New Orleans Saints 26-19.
The transition wasn't without a few minor hiccups. Just prior to the Thursday Night game in Week 15 last year, a fan captured video of Bucs players huddled up around Jameis, while McCoy was noticeably absent. Instead, he was walking around the outside of the huddle with no helmet, far removed from teammates, appearing detached and indifferent.
McCoy denied that there was any rift.
"I love Jameis, man. The day after he got drafted, I went to both his parents and told them, 'I'm going to take care of him. Don't worry about him. When you get on that plane and go home, I got him.' I love him, man. He's like my brother."
Perhaps the change is a relief for McCoy, a former third-overall pick who has been in the spotlight since joining the 3-13 team in 2010. He was pegged the "next Warren Sapp" with his face immediately plastered on one of the entrances of Raymond James Stadium. He battled not one, but two devastating injuries his first two years, tearing his left biceps in 2010 and his left in 2011, ending both seasons prematurely and limiting his sack total to four.
Fans called him a bust. He was criticized for smiling too much and not possessing a nasty streak like Sapp. His breakthrough moment came in 2012 when he was named first-team All-Pro, but it seems someone always finds flaw in his demeanor or his style of play.
Winston himself knows about life under the microscope, but for different reasons -- the Heisman Trophy campaign in 2013 and a BCS Title, a highly-publicized sexual assault allegation and a shoplifting citation at Publix.
Those two off-field incidents will likely follow him around for the rest of his career and his life.
Even so, Winston continues to immerse himself in the Tampa Bay community, participating in everything from diabetes walks to kickball games in the park designed to strengthen community relations with law enforcement officers, to visiting survivors of the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando and serving as a staff member for virtually every one of his teammate's camps this summer.
In a sense, he's everywhere, filling the city's need for a star quarterback of its own.
"When they show commercials of the Bucs, they're not showing Gerald -- they're showing Jameis," McCoy joked. "That's for a reason and I'm happy about that because if your quarterback is the face of your franchise, usually that tags to winning, or going in a positive direction. I'm excited about it."
Winston also lost 20 pounds this offseason in an attempt to get stronger and healthier. While McCoy took notice of the weight loss, that wasn't what ultimately won over his support as a teammate, and neither was his 26-1 record as a starter in college . Instead, it was Winston's authenticity.
"He's Jameis. He's him. He [doesn't] care if I'm Gerald, if you're Vincent Jackson, if you're one of the Glazers, if you're Mr. Licht, he doesn't care. He's going to be Jameis," McCoy said. "For a guy to come in and regardless of what people say to him, how people feel about him, he's going to be himself -- you can't do anything but respect that."
