Raiders sign veteran Gerald McCoy

Few things in life are certain death, taxes and Jon Gruden’s love for veteran players. Today, Gruden decided to kick the tires on another veteran player and this one is extremely interesting Gerald McCoy.

McCoy is a six-time Pro Bowler and Associated Press first-team selection in 2013, McCoy has started 139 games in his career, recording 352 tackles (252 solo), 59.5 sacks, 79 tackles for loss, 24 passes defensed, six forced fumbles and four fumble recoveries. McCoy is 33 years old and didn’t play in the NFL last season. He was initially signed to a three-year deal by the Cowboys but was cut prior to the start of the season after rupturing his quad.

Usually when a veteran player is signed deep into training camp it means one of two things: either there was a significant injury or coaches feel like the team needed an upgrade. There have been a number of different sources that have stated that the Raiders’ interest in McCoy isn’t an indictment on their current roster of defensive tackles, where they added four players in the offseason.

However, there have been some rumblings that it may be possible that the Raiders’ interest could be because coaches believe Solomon Thomas may be too small to play three-tech DT after all. This is despite Thomas saying over and over that he sees a resurgent season with the Raiders due to moving to DT from 5-tech DE where he played with the 49ers.

During Thomas’ initial press conference to the Raiders he has said “The 3-tech is where I made my bread and butter in college, it’s where I feel the most efficient, I feel like I can be the extremely explosive, I’m quick, I’m really strong with my size and I’m really disruptive.”

The signing of Gerald McCoy is certainly an interesting one and brings a new storyline to the Raiders training camp. It's something that’s really worth watching. The Raiders starting defensive line may not be completely set after all.