Gerald McCoy signs with Panthers, Cleveland Browns take first ‘L’ of 2019
The Cleveland Browns took their first ‘L’ of the 2019 offseason as defensive tackle Gerald McCoy signed with the Carolina Panthers.
The Cleveland Browns fan base certainly hasn’t gotten used to winning or anything at this point.
You hate to troll on Browns fans because they’ve been in the NFL’s basement for so long, and they’ve finally seen the light with one of the brightest futures of any team in the NFL. But before the fan base gets too carried away with Super Bowl talk, it’s important to remember what taking that ‘L’ feels like.
That’s right, the Cleveland Browns, 2019 offseason champions, have taken their first loss of the offseason with the recent news that free agent defensive tackle Gerald McCoy would be signing with the Carolina Panthers instead of the heavily favored Browns.
The Panthers were the third team to get McCoy on a visit, and apparently they blew him away.
McCoy turned down what is probably a better situation at least in terms of the team’s path to a division title in Cleveland and also turned down the chance to play in Baltimore with the league’s top defense from last season.
The Carolina Panthers are not a bad team, by any means. McCoy makes a solid team even better, but we’d be lying if we said it wasn’t a surprise he picked them over the first two teams he visited with.
Perhaps the chance to play against the Buccaneers twice this year was the convincing factor. Maybe it was the chance to play with Cam Newton, a former NFL MVP who is due a rebound season here.
Whatever the deciding factor, the money was expected to be the same across the board and the Browns probably had more flexibility than either the Ravens or Panthers.
It’s a shame for Cleveland, whose star-studded roster would have looked even better with McCoy’s name lined up next to Sheldon Richardson at defensive tackle.
Alas, we don’t get to see that.
McCoy joins a Carolina Panthers defensive line which already has some really strong players in Kawann Short and Dontari Poe and added Brian Burns in the first round of the 2019 NFL Draft.
Carolina is quietly putting together a phenomenal offseason if they can figure out how they are going to keep Cam Newton upright.
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Sorry, Browns fans. There was bound to be some adversity on the way to a championship.