"We have a lot of great – not good, great – ahead of us with this team and this organization," McCoy said. "A big part of that will be my health, so I need to be healthy if we're going to be successful."

Head coach Lovie Smith, who just completed his first season with McCoy, acknowledged the void left when the perennial Pro-Bowler wasn't on the field.

"We're not the same without Gerald – no team would be. I didn't like the way it looked without him out there and let's start with that, but we've played without him before. Again, we're not the same."