HOUSTON — Devin McCourty learned early in his career that change is sometimes a good thing.
McCourty, who was drafted by the Patriots out of Rutgers seven years ago as a cornerback, was moved to safety by coach Bill Belichick. He wondered what that was going to mean to his career.
“I was only in my second or third year, so I didn’t know much about the NFL,’’ McCourty recalled. “I was just trying to stick around, so I made the switch. It was, ‘You’re going to safety.’ I was just trying to keep my job on the team so I went to safety. Bill said the same thing he says to [the media]. He thought it was best for the team to put us in the best winning situation. So for me, it was a big deal at the time.’’
It has paid off for McCourty, who has become one of the best safeties in the NFL and is playing for his second Super Bowl ring on Sunday against the Falcons at NRG Stadium.
Jets cornerback Darrelle Revis, who was once the standard at his position, is contemplating a move to safety to extend his career. He needs only to look at where McCourty has taken it since making the change.
“At first, I wasn’t thinking about how good I could be, it was just trying to learn a position and help the team win,’’ he said. “I didn’t think about it as move to safety, try to be a really good safety. It was just trying to go there and help the team out.”
McCourty credited Belichick’s keen eye for talent for believing the position switch would work.
“I think other people might see things but they don’t know how to [do it],’’ he said. “If [Belichick] sees something, he believes in it — whether it’s drafting a guy, not signing a guy back, signing another — he doesn’t care what the public opinion is. He does what he thinks is best for the team.”
Belichick praised McCourty.
“Devin’s very smart,” the coach said. “He has great awareness of the entire concept of the defense, what the defense is designed to do, what the strengths are, what’s taken away, where we’re weak, how to try to compensate for that.
SEE ALSO
Devin McCourty on Belichick's son and pretending he's his twin 0:0 Patriots defensive back, and Rutgers product, Devin McCourty, covers some…
“Sometimes we have checks that will get us out of situations that we feel vulnerable within certain calls. So, he’s responsible for a lot of that. His leadership, his on-the-field play, his toughness, he’s done whatever we’ve asked him to do — return kickoffs, cover kicks, block the gunners on the punt-return team, rush field goals or whatever it is. He’s been not only a dependable player but a good player for us in all of those different areas.”
Indeed, McCourty has become one of the heartbeats of the team, dubbed “Mr. Patriot’’ by some, including special teams captain Matthew Slater.
“The thing that’s really rare about Devin is he was a captain in his second year on a veteran football team,’’ Slater said. “I think that says a lot about his character. He’s had that veteran mentality from his first day in the room. He really embodies everything we stand for as an organization. That’s why I think he’s ‘Mr. Patriot.’ ”
“Obviously, his on-the-field play is elite, he’s one of the best players at his position in the league. On the field, he’s like another coach. He’s so reliable, so consistent, his football IQ is the best that I’ve seen over the last several years. It’s up there with the best I’ve seen over the course of my career. If you’re looking for a guy that you want to build a team around, you want young players to look to and model, that’s Devin McCourty.”
Our editors found this article on this site using Google and regenerated it for our readers.
