Was Super Bowl LIII the final game for New England Patriots twins Devin and Jason McCourty? They have yet to make that decision.
The McCourty brothers, who will be 32 when the 2019 NFL season begins, addressed potential retirement during an interview with The MMQB’s Albert Breer published Monday.
Jason McCourty, a soon-to-be free agent cornerback who made one of the biggest defensive plays in the Patriots’ win over the Los Angeles Rams, said he’d currently like to continue his career, though he acknowledged he could have a change of heart in the coming months.
“For me, right now, I’m just hanging out with the kids and the wife,” Jason McCourty told Breer. “I’m a free agent, so it’s a matter of letting due process take place. So however that shakes out, we’ll see. Whatever happens, and if me and my wife are sitting there talking and saying, ‘Man, this is an awesome opportunity, let’s go play,’ great.
“At the same time, if the middle or end of March comes and you’re like, ‘This isn’t really what I thought for Year 11,’ then you start to think, ‘Alright, let’s really discuss what we want to do.’ Do we want to take advantage of these opportunities, or do we want to just say, no that’s not worth it? For me, family’s the most important thing, so between me and my wife, it’s figuring it out. But ideally, I’d say right now, yeah, I plan on playing football.”
Devin McCourty, New England’s starting free safety and longtime team co-captain, was less clear about his desires. He did say, however, that some of the comments he made during Super Bowl Opening Night were mischaracterized.
“I just want to rest right now and see how I feel,” he said. “I think after the Media Night, people thought I was more retiring over anything. And I just said I would think about it. For me, I just want to see my body get healthy and feel better, and see how I feel. My wife already said she doesn’t want to see me stay at home yet, so I already got one going against me on being at home. …
“When Deion (Sanders) asked me that, I’d never said that. He came up to me and was like, ‘People are saying if you win this game, you might retire.’ I’d never said that. And the way he said it, I was like, ‘Damn, people think that?’ So I was like, ‘This is a special year.’ No matter how much I play, I don’t know if I’ll ever have a year more special than this. Playing with (Jason) for the first time, we’re in the Super Bowl together, my mom, snow angels on the field …”
This was the twins’ first season together since Jason’s final year at Rutgers in 2008. (Devin played one additional year there before entering the NFL and joining the Patriots in 2010.) Both played in all 19 games for New England, and neither left the field in Super Bowl LIII, playing all 65 defensive snaps.
Devin McCourty has one year remaining on his current Patriots contract. He’s set to make $9 million in salary in 2019 with a cap hit of $13.435 million.
