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It’s widely believed that Buccaneers defensive tackle Gerald McCoy would have to take a hefty pay cut to stay with the team this year, but that hasn’t been directly communicated to McCoy.

That’s the word from Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times, who reports that the Bucs have had no discussions with McCoy about reducing the $13 million he is owed for 2019.

That’s a surprise, given that the whole issue seems to be that the Bucs no longer think McCoy is worth the kind of money that he was worth when he signed his contract. Perhaps the Bucs are so down on McCoy that they don’t see any point in even asking him to take a pay cut, because they want him to take a pay cut so steep that they know he’d say no.

In that case, they could just cut him now, but they appear to be holding onto him in the hopes that some other team will trade for him. The Browns are reportedly interested. The question is whether any team would trade for McCoy, rather than just wait for the Bucs to cut him, which they seem likely to do eventually.