Las Vegas Raiders add defensive depth, sign tackle Gerald McCoy

HENDERSON, Nev. -- The Las Vegas Raiders signed veteran free-agent defensive tackle Gerald McCoy to add to an already deep-but-rebuilt line on Wednesday, the team announced.

McCoy, 33, missed last season after suffering a ruptured right quadriceps tendon in training camp with the Dallas Cowboys.

The 6-foot-4, 300-pound McCoy was the No. 3 overall pick by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the 2010 NFL draft and is a six-time Pro Bowl selection from 2012 through 2017. He was first-team All-Pro in 2013, when he had 9.5 sacks, 21 QB hits and four passes defensed. He also played for the Carolina Panthers in 2019 and has started all 139 games he has played in during his career, totaling 352 tackles, 59.5 sacks, six forced fumbles and four fumble recoveries.

McCoy played 40 games over three college seasons for theOklahoma Soonersand had 14.5 sacks among his 83 tackles.

In the first padded practice of training camp last August, McCoy suffered the quad injury and the Cowboys soon thereafter released him, saving Dallas $3.25 million.

An injury waiver in the three-year, $18 million deal McCoy had signed with Dallas in March 2020 negated the contract going forward due to chronic tendinitis in his right knee/quadriceps.

McCoy, though, was allowed to keep the $3 million signing bonus in the transaction.

In Las Vegas, McCoy joins a defensive tackle room that includes Quinton Jefferson and Johnathan Hankins, both of whom have been getting first-team reps in new defensive coordinator Gus Bradley's base 4-3 scheme; Solomon Thomas, the No. 3 overall pick of the 2017 draft; and Matt Dickerson, Darius Philon and Niles Scott. Clelin Ferrell, the No. 4 overall pick of the 2019 draft, has been seeing time as a pass-rushing 3-technique on third down.