Gerald McCoy Discusses His Beef With Warren Sapp

Having spent nine seasons with the Bucs and playing 11 in total, Gerald McCoy’s play did enough talking. McCoy garnered six consecutive Pro Bowl nods from 2012-2017. Using a historical reference, this timespan for the team was in the midst of their dark ages. During his whole career in Tampa Bay, he did not get to experience the playoffs.

He was caught between the Super Bowl teams of 2002 and 2020. The team’s contention window was long closed, and the days of its dominant defense headed by Warren Sapp, Derrick Brooks, Ronde Barber, and John Lynch were gone. McCoy would only play with an aging Barber for three seasons. During these tough times, he and linebacker Lavonte David were the best players on defense and arguably on the roster.

Lining up at defensive tackle, he racked up 54.5 sacks as a Buccaneer and is credited with 297 total tackles, 86 tackles for loss, and 140 quarterback hits. Notwithstanding his one-season cameo with the Panthers (and one game with the Raiders), McCoy’s dominance on the field was solely in red and pewter.

Appearing on the “Green Light with Chris Long” podcast with Long and former Bucs teammate Beau Allen, Gerald McCoy had plenty to say about how he grew up as a fan of the Bucs, his time with the team, a potential return last season, as well as what he did during the Bucs Super Bowl win in 2020 and the fallout he had with legendary Bucs defensive tackle Warren Sapp.

Gerald McCoy Details His “Beef” With Warren Sapp, Being Disrespected By Bucs

Asked about what made him a Bucs fan living in Oklahoma growing up, McCoy gave a simple answer.

“It was Warren Sapp. I know we have our beef; we have a running beef right now,” McCoy said. “The first defensive lineman I really knew about was Leon Lett because he played for the Cowboys. I wore 78 in little league, I switched over to 99 once I discovered Warren Sapp. He alone made me a Bucs fan, and then I started playing with them on Madden. I started discovering Ronde [Barber] and Derrick Brooks, John Lynch and Mike Alstott. Then NFL Blitz came out, so that’s how I developed my love for the Bucs. Then it just happened they went on this run, went to the Super Bowl [in 2002], and they won it.”

The early 2000s were the golden age of football video games, but that is a topic for another time. McCoy went further in discussing his early rapport with Sapp, the 2013 Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee.

“Fast forward, I get drafted there [in 2010], and ‘My team growing up as a kid I got drafted to,’” McCoy said. “The first Buccaneer I spoke with was [former player] Warren Sapp. He came that week we first had OTAs – we went outside and did some one-on-ones, and he walked me through and taught me some stuff. He said, ‘We’re going to keep this going as your career goes, if you got any questions.’ It was fine.

“Me and Sapp became more than just; he became more than just a mentor and somebody I could ask questions to. Sapp’s been in my house – he’s met all my kids, wife, and dad. I’ve picked him up, and we’ve done – he was supposed to go train some kids – he called me, ‘Hey, I got to go train these kids. Can you give me a ride? Let’s go down here, work these kids.’ Bet, let’s go. We talked every week, I’m sending him film, we’re breaking down this… we became like actual friends.”

The bond built between the two elite defensive tackles quickly dissolved based on the disagreement they had about McCoy’s true legacy in Tampa Bay.

“As soon as I left Tampa, I went on ‘Undisputed,’” McCoy said. “Shannon Sharpe and Skip [Bayless] asked me about them giving my number to [Ndamukong] Suh. My thing was – there are only two people in Buccaneers’ history who had more consecutive Pro Bowls, the All-Pros, all of that. You can say whatever you want about the Super Bowl era and Bucs’ defense that did – I still believe – top two or three defenses in history. Other than that, the accolades are there.”

McCoy said he felt disrespected by the organization after they cut him in 2019 in a salary cap move, in addition to pursuing Ndamukong Suh in free agency.

“For me to leave, what the Bucs didn’t do, is when I left, whether we parted ways or not, there was no post of ‘Thank You, Good Bye,’” McCoy said. “Man, they just gave – what’s this kicker’s name? The one that kicked during the Super Bowl? [Ryan] Succop left, didn’t re-sign with the Bucs, and they gave him a farewell post! When I left, I got nothing. I leave; y’all just said, ‘F me.’ There was no, ‘Let’s give it a year” regarding passing down his jersey number to Suh. It was about the lack of respect that I got from the Bucs when internally they know what I was past a football player.”

More than just being a great player on the field, he went into detail about the specifics of his impact on the Tampa Bay community with Allen. While McCoy had the right to look upon his tenure seeking (and deserving) proper recognition, the one-time close friendship with Sapp added to his disrespect since his Bucs’ career ended.

Bucs DT Gerald McCoy – Photo by: Mary Holt/PR

“This is what happened with Sapp” McCoy said. “I said something about my number, and he goes on an interview [with Pewter Report] and says, ‘He can’t say that, he’s not one of us. What has he done here in Tampa to warrant him feeling like he should get anything here?’ That was what he said. Here is who he is – an opportunist. I’ve seen him disrespect people in such a manner like in-person. I’m like, ‘Dawg, you really got problems.’ If a person shows you who they are – believe them.

“When that happened, I called him. Multiple times, he did not pick up the phone. I sent him a text, he did not respond. I said, ‘We can handle this however you want to handle this, but be a man and pick up the phone.’ He did not – you know when he responded to me? When he knew he was going to have to see me in London. He texts me a one-liner: ‘I told you how I felt about certain things.’ That’s what he said to me. I feel disrespected because he knows what took place between me and him. He could have called me and said that to me privately. To go in the media and say that – you’re an opportunist and you showed me who you were. The one thing I don’t tolerate is disrespect.”

The level to which McCoy discussed this matter is revealing in that the beef between the two has now been long-standing and has gone on for years. While their relationship may never be repaired, McCoy seems to be happily enjoying retirement. Still only 35, he has a long post-playing career ahead of him. Whether he gets the proper respect for what he accomplished in Tampa Bay will continue to remain a topic of discussion.