Erik McCoy has spent too much of the last two seasons watching from the sideline, but don’t mistake that for a change in approach.
The New Orleans Saints center has missed 20 games over the past two years, including just seven appearances in each of the last two seasons. In 2024, he went on injured reserve twice - first with a groin injury, then with an elbow injury - before last season ended when he tore his biceps against the Chicago Bears.
McCoy isn’t interested in dressing that up.
“S*** just happens,” McCoy said.
That’s the lens he keeps coming back to, even after two frustrating years. He knows there are details to dissect and lessons to pull from the injuries, but he’s not going to pretend football offers much control over every hit, twist or awkward landing.
“It’s hard as an athlete, but it’s the name of the game,” McCoy said. “Last year, the play where I tore my bicep was something I’ve done a million times, and I saw people do it a million times after that. It just happened to be that impact angle and, you know, it ended my season.
“It was tough. But I’m going to keep doing what I can to mitigate those risks and hopefully I’ll be lucky. Hopefully all of us will be lucky, but I want to be lucky, too.”
That perspective didn’t come overnight. McCoy said he’d already seen the other side of the coin earlier in his career, when he made his first Pro Bowl after playing all 17 games in his fifth season. At that point, outside of a few soft-tissue issues, he had mostly avoided major injury trouble.
He pointed back to an interview he did for the team’s in-house magazine before the 2024 season, when he was told he was the only offensive player who had stayed healthy for the full previous year.
“And my answer was, ‘It was the luck of the draw,’ ” McCoy said. “I still stick to that.
Healthy, unhealthy. Yes, there are certain things you can do to prepare, but at the end of the day, it’s football, s*** happens, and it’s just the luck of the draw.”
The Saints felt McCoy’s absence immediately. New Orleans opened the 2024 season with 91 points in its first two games, with McCoy playing a major role in the team’s new wide zone run scheme. Then came Week 3, when he injured his groin, and the offense fell off sharply.
The team was in a better spot to absorb his loss last year after trading for veteran Luke Fortner during the preseason, but McCoy’s absence still mattered.
“Erik’s one of the top centers in this league, he’s a really talented player. When he’s on the field, we’re a better football team - always,” coach Kellen Moore said.
“... Erik is an important part of this.
When he’s out there, we’re a better offensive line, a better offense. So we’re excited to keep building.”
Tyler Shough is among those eager to get McCoy back in front of him. The quarterback has never taken a snap from McCoy in a game because he became the starter after McCoy’s injury last year, but the two have built a close bond anyway.
“He’s been great for me,” Shough said. “Even though we didn’t get to play together we were around each other every single day.
We had our sons born within 24 hours of each other so we were at the hospital together. I love him, he’s been great for me, just to be able to learn (from) and talk with him.”
That relationship matters, but so does what McCoy brings to the line. His ability to sort out pressure and make the right calls should take some of the burden off Shough at the line of scrimmage.
“Whatever he’s calling … I trust him fully and implicitly,” Shough said.
McCoy, now entering his eighth season, also has a different kind of perspective these days. He and his wife welcomed their second child this spring, and he said that growing family has helped him keep everything in focus. At the same time, he knows his playing window isn’t endless.
So while he’s excited to be back and the Saints are eager to have him, one thing isn’t changing. McCoy isn’t planning to dial back his style because of what the last two seasons have brought.
“There’s always going to be an awareness (of injuries), but you can’t play with an awareness, you know what I mean?” McCoy said.
“It’s kind of just got to be reckless abandon, and whatever happens happens. I’m going to keep that same mentality.
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