New England Patriots safety Devin McCourty was mentally prepared to hit free agency. He is, after all, an aging veteran. Maybe he’s still performing like a top safety. But maybe he’s on the verge of decline.
He seemed like the type of veteran who Bill Belichick might let slip into free agency, where he’d surely get a major deal from another NFL team in need of a mix of leadership and quality free safety play. In fact, McCourty had a short-list of teams where he expected to land, if he and the Patriots couldn’t agree on an extension. They did. His extension keeps him a Patriot through 2021. But clearly, he had free agency on his mind in the days leading up to it. Here’s some information from MMQB’s Albert Breer.
“For the second time in his career, he was set to become a free agent,” Breer wrote in his latest Monday Morning Quarterback column. “But once the Patriots picked up his brother Jason’s option, he had a pretty good idea he’d be staying put (something he detailed last week in the Players Tribune), after initially thinking he might be bound for the Giants or Dolphins.”
In Miami, McCourty could work with former Patriots’ defensive play-caller Brian Flores, who has been the Dolphins head coach since the start of 2019 season. Joe Judge would probably be the draw in New York. He was the special teams coordinator in New England, and is serving as the head coach after the Giants hired him this offseason. McCourty would be an ideal fit for both team. Instead, he stayed in New England to steady the listing ship after Tom Brady’s departure.
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