LeSean McCoy signs with Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Former Pitt running back LeSean McCoy spent the last several months in free agency after helping the Kansas City Chiefs win their first Super Bowl in 50 years, but on Thursday, he once again secured a spot on an NFL roster, agreeing to a one-year deal with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. As a result, he will play in his 12th season in the league in 2020.

“He’s very excited to play with established vets like Brady and Gronk and trying to win another championship,” Drew Rosenhaus, McCoy’s agent, told Adam Schefter of ESPN.

Last season in Kansas City, the NFL veteran led the team’s running back corps with an average of 4.6 yards per carry. However, McCoy split time in the Chiefs backfield with younger backs and ran for a career-low 465 yards. That elevated McCoy’s career yardage to 11,017, which is 983 yards shy of his career goal.

“You talk about that number,” McCoy told Mike Garafolo of NFL Network last week. “That number’s 12,000. That’s something I’ve always wanted to achieve. That’s big to me.”

In Tampa, McCoy will join a loaded offense that not only includes former New England Patriots stars Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski, but also a number of young talented pass-catchers like Mike Evans and Chris Godwin. What the team is missing is a running game, as it has not had a 1,000-yard rusher since Doug Martin ran for 1,402 yards and six touchdowns in 2015.

McCoy is three years removed from his last 1,000-yard campaign, but in 2019, his play suggested another one is not out of the question — even at age 32. His average of 4.6 yards per carry was the fifth-best of his career, and had he gotten 222 carries, his career average, he would have had 1,021 yards at the rate at which he was producing.