Devin McCourty Ready For Anything In Free Agency
BOSTON (CBS) -- The quarterback of the Patriots is an impending free agent, with his football future very much unknown. The quarterback of the Patriots' defense may not be generating the same level of attention, but Devin McCourty is very much in the same boat as Tom Brady.
The 32-year-old safety has spent his entire 10-year career with the Patriots, playing in 178 of a possible 183 games and winning three Super Bowls. He's been a captain every year since 2011, making four Pro Bowls and being named to three Second Team All-Pro Teams (once as a cornerback and twice as a safety).
He's been extraordinarily important to all of the Patriots' success in the 2010s, but as he approaches free agency, he has no idea if he'll be able to continue that work in New England.
When asked by NBC Sports Boston's Phil Perry about the matter, McCourty opted to not even give the stock answer of "I want to be back," because he knows that a player's desire sometimes doesn't factor in to such situations.
"Is it a cool headline if I say I want to be back? Yeah, but that doesn't really matter," McCourty said.
Considering former Patriots assistant Joe Judge got the head coaching gig for the Giants, New York reporters asked McCourty if he'd be open to a homecoming of sorts. (McCourty is from northern New Jersey and played at Rutgets.)
"I'm always open to talk to anybody. That's how I view it," McCourty told the New York Post. "I like Joe [Judge]. I think he is well prepared and passionate, so he has a chance to be a really good head coach."
McCourty has of course had the benefit of playing alongside his twin brother, Jason, for the past two seasons, winning a Super Bowl together in 2018. From that perspective, Jason is under contract with the Patriots for 2020, which would likely make a Patriots offer more alluring.
Overall, McCourty sounds like someone who just doesn't know what to expect once the offers start coming in in mid-March.
"I'm excited," McCourty told the Post. "I don't expect anything. I've talked to my wife and we're wide open. We'll see how it turns out."
