Gerald McCoy knew right away that Trai Turner had Pro Bowl ability

[Sir Purr]

CHARLOTTE – The first time Gerald McCoy and Trai Turner shared an NFL field, they didn’t have much in common from the league’s perspective.


In McCoy’s last game prior to the two facing off in the 2014 season opener, the dynamic defensive tackle sacked Saints quarterback Drew Brees in the season finale to cap a season with the Buccaneers that earned him first-team All-Pro honors.


Turner’s last game prior was in McCoy’s home stadium, when the young right guard helped LSU beat Iowa in the Outback Bowl.


But after the Panthers and Bucs opened the 2014 season at Raymond James Stadium, the gap between McCoy and Turner closed.


Actually it closed even before the game was over.


“I remember talking to him after the game and talking to him during the game,” Turner said of his new teammate. “It was my rookie year, and I’m going up against Gerald McCoy – one of the premier if not the premier defensive tackle in the league. I was blocking him, giving it all I’ll got.”


McCoy complimented the rookie’s game on the spot. After the game, McCoy had even more to say – words of praise that proved prophetic.


“It was his first game,” McCoy recalled after he recently signed with the Panthers. “After the game I told him, ‘Hey, listen. The path that you’re on, if you keep playing like this and don’t change what you’re doing – just keep improving – you’re going to be a Pro Bowl offensive lineman.’


“I told him from the first time I played him, and when he made it the following year he was like, ‘Man, how did you know that?’ And I said, ‘Because I know football and I just played against you.’”