There’s been a common theme among Patriots free agents who signed with teams outside of New England this offseason.
Nearly every now-former Patriot who hit the open market this year landed with a team coached by a Bill Belichick disciple. Kyle Van Noy, Elandon Roberts and Ted Karras all reunited with Brian Flores in Miami, while Jamie Collins and Danny Shelton rejoined forces with Matt Patricia in Detroit. Nate Ebner, meanwhile, signed with the New York Giants ahead of Joe Judge’s first season in the Meadowlands.
It appears Devin McCourty briefly considered following a similar path. The veteran safety, who re-signed with the Patriots on a two-year deal, admitted to Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer that he had two other teams in mind ahead of the start of free agency.
“For the second time in his career, he was set to become a free agent,” Breer wrote in his latest Monday Morning Quarterback column. “But once the Patriots picked up his brother Jason’s option, he had a pretty good idea he’d be staying put (something he detailed last week in the Players Tribune), after initially thinking he might be bound for the Giants or Dolphins.”
McCourty’s decision to return to Foxboro wasn’t entirely based on his twin brother’s option. As the three-time Super Bowl champion explained in the aforementioned Players’ Tribune letter, the challenge he initially thought he needed to take on elsewhere currently presents itself in New England. The 2020 season will mark the Patriots’ first without Tom Brady since 1999, and McCourty is excited about tackling the tall task.
The 10-year veteran effectively has been a leader since he arrived in New England, and that leadership will be needed now more than ever.
