FOXBORO, Mass. — Devin McCourty could be under a lot of pressure in 2015 after signing a five-year, $47.5 million contract over the offseason.
The free safety is the only Pro Bowl-caliber player left on the New England Patriots’ secondary after the team allowed Darrelle Revis and Brandon Browner to walk in free agency after just one year. McCourty will have new starting cornerbacks again this season, but they’ll either be young players or journeymen free agents.
The sixth-year safety understands his role in getting free-agent cornerbacks Bradley Fletcher and Robert McClain acclimated.
“We just worked out. We haven’t done anything like one-on-one meetings or anything like that,” McCourty said Tuesday at Gillette Stadium. “I think the great thing is once you get on the football field, and we start talking scheme and everything. Right now, it’s just about working out and trying to get better along those lines.
“Once we start talking about scheme and everything, I’m just a guy to be another way to explain things, another way to say things other than how to coach — or sometimes players can relate to each other a little easier than just hearing a coach lecture about it and talk about it. I just try to always be that bridge, so that we can get everyone on the same page. We always say at the end of the day that all the players on the field are thinking the same way, and if we can do that, we’ll have a chance to be good.”
Patriots fans will have lofty standards in 2015 after their Super Bowl XLIX-winning secondary was excellent, not just good. McCourty isn’t setting unrealistic expectations, however.
“I guess right now we don’t know what it’s going to be,” McCourty said about the secondary. “I’m always confident in the hard work we’re going to put in, but I’d be lying if I said I know we’re going to be great. Same thing last year when we all got together, we didn’t know what to expect.
“We have to put the work in now, and we’ll grow as the process goes on. Once we get on the practice field for OTAs, and we’ll start practicing and doing things like that, I think that’s where you put the work in and you give yourself a chance to be a good secondary and a good defense.”
The Patriots are bringing back cornerbacks Kyle Arrington, Logan Ryan, Malcolm Butler, Alfonzo Dennard, Justin Green and Daxton Swanson. They signed Fletcher, McClain and Chimdi Chekwa in free agency and could grab a rookie cornerback in the NFL draft.
The Patriots would probably prefer to give starting roles to their homegrown young players, but Fletcher and McClain will be able to compete for starting roles during OTAs, minicamp and training camp.
Thumbnail photo via Mark Humphrey/Associated Press
