Gerald McCoy Scouting Report

After redshirting in 2006, Gerald McCoy thought about entering the NFL draft after the 2008 season as a sophomore. In 2007 he earned Big 12 Defensive Freshman of the Year honors and a host of other awards. He started all 13 games as a freshman and tallied 2.0 sacks, 6.5 tackles-for-loss and six quarterback hurries. In 2008 he tallied 6.5 sacks and 11.0 tackles-for-loss. Making such an impression on a deep and talented Oklahoma front four is very difficult for an underclassman. But McCoy has done it and that tells a lot about his quality as a football player. At 6-4 and 295 pounds, McCoy has the size and the speed to make an impact at the next level. But the question is whether or not the former highly touted prep star is better off coming back to the Sooners for another year. Coming back for the 2009 season was a good idea for McCoy and half way through this season he has tallied 3.0 sacks and 9.5 tackles-for-loss. If he keeps that up, McCoy will probably leave the Sooners with a year of eligibility remaining and be a first round draft pick in April and one of the first few defensive tackles taken. 1/19 Update: And that is pretty much what has happened. McCoy has opted to forgo his senior season at Oklahoma and enter the NFL Draft. A late surge up the draft boards has him as a likely top ten pick and possibly even a top five selection. While McCoy will play second fiddle on draft day to Ndamukong Suh, as far as defensive tackles are concerned, he is a great talent who could end up going second to Detroit if the Rams take Suh with the first overall selection. 3/24 Update: Despite McCoy's unimpressive bench press performance at the NFL Combine, he is still right up there with Suh on most draft boards. In fact, his all around performance at the combine has some thinking that he could go ahead of Suh. All of that will depend on what the Rams do with the first pick, but anyway you look at it, McCoy will almost certainly be off the board in the top five (though the poor bench press will scare some teams away).