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Sooner Legend (and Sooner Dad) Gerald McCoy Signs with Dallas Cowboys

The free agent defensive tackle from Carolina will be able to drive to Norman to watch his son's games

John E. Hoover

Sooner Legend (and Sooner Dad) Gerald McCoy Signs with Dallas Cowboys
Sooner Legend (and Sooner Dad) Gerald McCoy Signs with Dallas Cowboys /

It’s been a big week for Sooners legend Gerald McCoy.

Last Friday, the Oklahoma City native and two-time Oklahoma All-American saw his son, Marcellus Crutchfield, commit to play football at his alma mater starting this fall as a wide receiver.

Then on Tuesday night, the Dallas Cowboys announced they had signed McCoy as a free agent from the Carolina Panthers.

In Dallas, he’ll be 2 1/2 hours from Norman, where he can attend his son’s games, and he’ll be a short drive from numerous other OU games in Texas.

McCoy, 32-year-old McCoy was drafted No. 3 overall by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2010, coming right behind fellow Sooner Sam Bradford at No. 1 and Trent Williams at No. 4. Oklahoma became the first school to produce three of the top four picks in the same draft.

The five-time All-Pro has 59.5 quarterback sacks in his career, including 17 over the last three seasons.

According to ESPN Cowboys reporter Todd Archer, McCoy’s contract, pending a physical, is a three-year deal worth a maximum of $20.25 million.

That includes a signing bonus of $3 million, a 2020 base salary of $2.5 million (fully guaranteed), plus future base salaries of $5 million in 2021 ($1.5 million fully guaranteed) and $5.25 million in 2022.

He also receives an active roster bonus (max of $750,000 for each season) and another $750,000 in incentives each season.

According to Archer, the contract includes an additional $2 million of his 2021 base salary guaranteed for injury. That figure becomes fully guaranteed on the fifth day of the 2021 league year.

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John E. Hoover
JOHN E. HOOVER

John is an award-winning journalist whose work spans five decades in Oklahoma, with multiple state, regional and national awards as a sportswriter at various newspapers. During his newspaper career, John covered the Dallas Cowboys, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma State Cowboys, the Arkansas Razorbacks and much more. In 2016, John changed careers, migrating into radio and launching a YouTube channel, and has built a successful independent media company, DanCam Media. From there, John has written under the banners of Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, Fan Nation and a handful of local and national magazines while hosting daily sports talk radio shows in Oklahoma City, Tulsa and statewide. John has also spoken on Capitol Hill in Oklahoma City in a successful effort to put more certified athletic trainers in Oklahoma public high schools. Among the dozens of awards he has won, John most cherishes his national "Beat Writer of the Year" from the Associated Press Sports Editors, Oklahoma's "Best Sports Column" from the Society of Professional Journalists, and Two "Excellence in Sports Medicine Reporting" Awards from the National Athletic Trainers Association. John holds a bachelor's degree in Mass Communications from East Central University in Ada, OK. Born and raised in North Pole, Alaska, John played football and wrote for the school paper at Ada High School in Ada, OK. He enjoys books, movies and travel, and lives in Broken Arrow, OK, with his wife and two kids.

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