Pro Football Focus believes the New York Giants should pursue veteran safety Devin McCourty in free agency.
The New York Giants will have over $60 million in salary cap space to spend on upgrading their roster come March 18 and there are varying opinions on just how they should allocate those resources.
One glaring hole in the Giants’ armor is their pass defense, especially down the middle of the field. In 2019, they had two new safeties — Jabrill Peppers and veteran Antoine Bethea. We don’t need to recap how things worked out, even though both players had stretches where they played well.
The Giants need a better quarterback for their young defensive backfield — it would go a long way in stopping teams from carrying them up deep down the middle for easy scores.
Pro Football Focus is suggesting the Giants give New England Patriots safety Devin McCourty a look in free agency.
The 32-year-old former first rounder out of Rutgers fits this new Giants coaching style and attitude to a tee and could do what they had hoped Bethea, now 35, could do for their fledgling secondary.
The Giants’ secondary was brutal across the board in 2019 — the team ranked 30th in coverage grade, and their four most-played cornerbacks each failed to crack a coverage grade above 60.0. Safeties Jabrill Peppers and Julian Love were the best coverage defenders, but head coach Joe Judge will look to add former Patriots, and safety Devin McCourty is still a good one to get. Love has experience in the slot, so moving him there exclusively while bringing in the NFL’s sixth highest-graded safety from 2019 wouldn’t be a bad idea. Playing deep safety in 2019, McCourty allowed just one catch and notched four interceptions.
I don’t imagine McCourty will get a load of lucrative offers from the rebuilding teams in the league. His market in in the 1-2 year range at a reasonable price. He’ll be a target for contenders who are one or two players away seeking to bring in veteran to help get them over the top.
Or, the Giants, who just need a steady hand to get their defense back on the map.
Devin McCourty shares a story from his pre-draft meeting with Bill Belichick.
Being a college football player in your early 20s is difficult enough. Having to meet one of the greatest football minds in the history of the game for a chance to play for him? That has to be nerve-wracking. That interaction from a pre-draft meeting is still at the forefront of Devin McCourty’s brain, even 10 years later.
The Athletic’s Jeff Howe published a story sharing some of the best Bill Belichick memories from current and former players and coaches on the 20th anniversary of the trade that brought him to New England.
“Mine was in college when he sat down with me, question after question, and the dude gave me no response, no anything. ‘What could you do better?’ I answered it,” McCourty told Howe. “You’re trying to impress, so I would give this long answer trying to hit everything I knew about the defense, and he would just say, ‘OK,’ and watch the next play. We did it for like 45 minutes to an hour. You can imagine going through a whole game in an hour, and you think you’re giving this coach what you think is your best stuff. My agent called me, and I’m like, ‘I don’t know how it went, but I doubt I’m a Patriot.’ Then you find out he thought it was a really good interview. To me, that’s him – consistency, getting the same thing no matter what, and I learned that as soon as I got here.”
Belichick’s famous cold, short demeanor was on full display. It’s that mentality, along with a great owner and quarterback, that has earned him six Super Bowls as a head coach.
Three Super Bowls and two Pro-Bowls in 10 years have proved that Belichick was right again when selecting the Rutgers product with the 27th overall pick in 2010.
McCourty is set to become a free agent at the start of the new league year and has stated he has no plans to retire. His Patriots’ legacy could continue or he could be starting fresh in a new home.
New England Patriots safety Devin McCourty approves of the team’s decision to hire Vinnie Sunseri, a former practice squad player. McCourty shared his thoughts on the hire on the latest episode of his “Double Coverage With the McCourty Twins” podcast.
“He was in New England while I was there, in the safety room,” McCourty said. “Very energetic, funny guy. All you New Englanders that watch this, you’re getting an energized guy, a that knows the game. He coached at Alabama. His dad (Sal Sunseri) is a coach, so he’s one of those kids that they say, ‘He’s a coach’s son.’
“He understands technique. He understands leverage. He understands everything because he does it perfectly, and now he is also following in his dad’s steps. His older brother (Tino Sunseri) actually a coach, too, that was at Alabama. Vinnie was there in the spring and was hanging out with him. So I’m happy to see him in New England. I think he’ll be a very bright mind added to the coaching staff.”
Sunseri played safety and special teams for the New Orleans Saints, the Patriots and the San Francisco 49ers from 2014 to 2016. He served as a graduate assistant at Alabama in 2019.
New England Patriots safety and pending free agency Devin McCourty will not retire this offseason, his agent told ESPN’s Mike Reiss. McCourty intends to pursue another season in the NFL.
He looked like one of the top safeties in the NFL in 2019 while serving as the anchor for a statistically elite secondary, which allowed the second fewest yards per game (180.4) in the league during the regular season. McCourty recorded five interceptions, which tied the second best total of his career. He also forced two fumbles while logging 58 tackles and seven pass breakups.
New England will likely want him back next season. But he has the option to pursue other suitors in free agency in March. There’s always the chance his price on the market could exceed what the Patriots are willing to pay.
Here are 6 major takeaways from New England’s 2019 season.
What a wild ride for Tom Brady and the New England Patriots in 2019.
Coming off of a Super Bowl victory, the Patriots were equipped and prepared to make another run. After eight weeks of the season, people were ready to crown them as one of the greatest Patriots teams ever. By the time playoffs came, many claimed the end of a dynasty. New England was unpredictable from the beginning of the offseason and and that theme was glaring throughout the entire year.
Brady came out firing at the start of the season, but his production plummeted as the weeks flew by. The defense started off as one of the greatest units in NFL history, and turned into a pretty solid group.
However you interpret the season, you can’t deny that they finished 12-4 and entered the playoffs. This was a really good season — if you don’t look at it from the Patriots’ standards.
Let’s take a dive into seven takeaways from the season.
Devin McCourty briefly summed up the challenge of defending Antonio Gates.
New England Patriots safety Devin McCourty spotted the announcement: Los Angeles Chargers tight end Antonio Gates is retiring.
McCourty has had the unfortunate task of defending Gates over the last decade, and even in his later seasons, the tight end was a major issue for the Patriots defense, especially on third downs. Gates had 28 receptions for 329 yards and three touchdowns against the Patriots in seven regular season games. While those numbers don’t wow, that’s probably because New England dedicated so much man power to defending him,
“I remember my second year we basically put 3 guys on him…#BEAST…congrats,” McCourty wrote.
Gates managed zero catches on just one target, and the Chargers lost 35-21. If anything, that showed his impact on the offense. He was the most important player — and deserved triple coverage.
New England Patriots safety Devin McCourty took the podium at Gillette Stadium on Saturday night, fresh off a season-ending loss to the Tennessee Titans in the wild-card game, and said confidently he plans to play football next year.
The 32-year-old defensive back is one of a handful of veteran Patriots who will be free agents when the National Football League’s year begins in March.
“I definitely see me playing football next year,” McCourty said after the 20-13 loss to the Titans.
“I’ve had a lot of fun this year with this group of guys. Each year, we get young guys in here, get to stay in the locker room, mold (these) guys, tell them stories of my past 10 years and how much fun I’ve had,” McCourty said.
“So, I can’t see it happening, me not playing football next year. So, I think over time, I’ll take some time away from football and I think the rest will kind of work itself out. We’ll see how that goes, but I definitely plan to be playing.”
If McCourty plans on playing his 11th season, the Patriots should make sure that he does so in New England. McCourty played at an All-Pro level year in 2019, receiving four All-Pro votes, while playing all 16 games for the league’s No. 1 ranked defense following the regular season. McCourty played 99 percent or more of snaps in 10 of the 16 games this year.
Like he has been throughout his career, McCourty was consistently on the field in 2019. And he was consistently good.
McCourty was second on the team in interceptions (five) after starting the year with four picks in the first four games. It was tied for the second most of his career behind only his rookie year in 2010 when he compiled seven playing cornerback. McCourty added seven pass break ups, two forced fumbles, one fumble recovery and 58 combined tackles.
McCourty will have many interested suitors when he hits the open market in March. And while that could mean he’s in for a big pay day, the Patriots should still do everything they can to make something work.
Perhaps staying in New England is what McCourty would want to. And if so, he may not need his biggest financial offer to be from the Patriots. After all, the last deal he signed in 2015, McCourty had bigger deals than the one the Patriots offered, but he still stayed. The last time he hit the open market in 2015, McCourty was one of the best safeties on the open market before he and the Patriots agreed to a five-year deal worth $47.5 million with $22 million guaranteed.
The deal proved the Patriots valued McCourty, both on and off the field. He has been a captain nine times (2011-2019) and continues to be one of the guiding forces both on the defense, and in the locker room. He is not only among the most likable players on the team, but in the NFL.
All told, it’s why the Patriots should keep McCourty in New England.
Through the first 15 weeks of the 2019 season, the Patriots’ pass defense was historically great. Not so now. What’s gone wrong?
The most shocking game result in Week 17 of the 2019 NFL season was unquestionably Miami’s 27-24 win over the Patriots. New England was playing for the AFC’s two-seed, which they ceded to the Chiefs with the loss, so it wasn’t like Bill Belichick was resting guys out there. And while it was no surprise that the Patriots’ offense was unspectacular — Tom Brady completed 16 of 29 passes for 221 yards, two touchdowns, and one interception, and Sony Michel led the team with 74 yards and a touchdown on 18 carries against the Dolphins’ sub-par defense — it was the performance of New England’s defense that raised some red flags as the defending Super Bowl champs head into the postseason.
Throughout most of the season, it’s been the defense that has kept the Patriots humming while the offense has performed in fits and starts at best. Through the first 15 weeks in 2019, New England allowed the NFL’s fewest completions (261) for the second-fewest passing yards behind San Francisco (2,666), for the fewest touchdowns (10), the lowest completion percentage (56.01%), the lowest yards per attempt (5.72) and the most interceptions (25). The Patriots allowed an opposing QBR of 57.39; the Bills ranked second in that time period at 76.73, You could argue that New England faced a relatively weak slate of opposing quarterbacks overall, but still, on that side of the ball, things were going at a historic level.
And then, over the last two weeks, it seems to have fallen apart. Against the Bills in Week 16 — a game the Pats still won to take their 11th straight AFC East title — and in that Dolphins loss, New England has allowed a completion rate of 60%, 42 completions for 548 yards, three touchdowns, no interceptions, and an opposing QBR of 98.99 — only five teams have been worse over the last two weeks of the season in that regard.
The most worrisome character in this particular regression is cornerback Stephon Gilmore, who looked like the runaway Defensive Player of the Year through the first 15 weeks of the season. Then, he allowed just 38 receptions on 82 targets for 444 yards, no touchdowns, six interceptions, and an opponent passer rating of 32.8. Among cornerbacks taking at least 50% of their teams’ defensive snaps, only J.C. Jackson, Gilmore’s teammate, allowed a lower passer rating.
All of a sudden, opponents like Dolphins receiver DeVante Parker are finding reasons to take the Patriots’ pass defense less seriously. (Bob DeChiara-USA TODAY Sports)
But over the last two weeks — that tight win over the Bills and the upset loss to the Dolphins — Gilmore has allowed nine catches on 16 targets for 180 yards, one touchdown, no interceptions, and an opponent passer rating of 131.5. Among cornerbacks taking at least 50% of their teams’ defensive snaps in that time, only eight have allowed a higher passer rating.
And it’s not just Gilmore. Jackson has been more vulnerable. Safeties Devin McCourty and Duron Harmon have not been as efficient and opportunistic of late. Perhaps most disconcerting for those aficionados of Belichick’s defensive brilliance over time is the seeming breakdowns between cornerbacks and safeties.
The first real example of things going wrong came with 7:25 left in the third quarter of the Bills game, when quarterback Josh Allen hit receiver John Brown for a 53-yard touchdown on a deep over route. The Patriots are running a man blitz here with McCourty as the deep safety, and Gilmore covering Brown in the defensive left slot. Defensive lineman Lawrence Guy forced a pressured throw from Allen, but Gilmore lost Brown on the fake outside to the seam, didn’t pick him back up, and McCourty was out in the weeds. It’s tough to remember an instance this season in which New England’s secondary was this out of sync.
“We kind of thought we had a beat on the play and we tried to be aggressive on it,” McCourty said after the game. “A call I made in the secondary where we try to be a little more aggressive and after you get beat on a touchdown, I came to the sideline and I’m like, ‘We’re not going to run that anymore.’ I think, like always, guys in our secondary, we move on fast and I think we always come to the sideline and understand exactly what it was and why a bad play happened for us, and then we fix it and got right down to it. A call that we liked coming into the week to be aggressive, and they kind of dialed up the perfect call against what we were doing, threw it away and then kept playing.”
Well, if that was a lone rogue incident, we wouldn’t be talking about a downward trend that really blew up against the Dolphins — the same Dolphins team that just fired Chad O’Shea, their offensive coordinator. So, there’s that. Well, in this game, Gilmore was exposed as he’d rarely been in a Patriots uniform, especially by Miami receiver DeVante Parker, who caught eight passes for 137 yards, and most of them against Gilmore.
Parker’s first reception, a 28-yarder from Ryan Fitzpatrick with 7:50 left in the first quarter, was another example of Gilmore in a schematic pinch.
What was going on the last time the New England Patriots played in a Wild-Card game, after the 2009 season.
The New England Patriots will be in unfamiliar territory next weekend: Playing in a Wild-Card playoff game for the first time since 2009. What was going on 10 seasons ago when Bill Belichick, Tom Brady & Co. last didn’t earn a bye?
Ravens ravage Patriots
Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images
The Patriots’ stay in the playoffs was short and sour. The Baltimore Ravens surged to a 24-0 lead in the first quarter behind Ray Rice TD runs of 83 and 1 yard. They went on to a 33-14 victory that saw Tom Brady go an ugly 23-of-42 for 154 yards and three picks.
