Pick ‘Em: Darrelle Revis or Devin McCourty
By David Smith
The way things are starting to look, someone won’t be back in a Patriots uniform next season. So, if you guys had your way, who would you want to stay and who would you give the axe? I’ll go over my reasons for both players and see whether it makes more sense to keep Darrelle Revis or Devin McCourty going forwards.
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Devin McCourty
The kid is an All-Pro safety. He’s young, he has ball-hawking instinct and can line up man-to-man in a pinch. The kid can just flat out ball, no question about it. If the Patriots decided to keep him, they’d probably be able to sign a few more pieces as well. Devin would probably see something like 5-years, $40 million. Which isn’t that bad. It gives the Patriots a lot of wiggle room to fill other spots. If the Patriots kept McCourty and let Revis go, then they could probably sign someone like Charles Tillman or Cortland Finnigan, which wouldn’t be that bad.
Darrelle Revis
The island still stands in Foxboro. Revis is still able to completely take away the opponent’s best receiver for basically the whole game. However, he’s going to cost a pretty penny. Revis wants to get paid, everyone knows that. He’d want top corner back money, something close to 5-years $80-million. Is he worth it? I don’t know. He’s talented, but he’s getting old. Does he have 5 solid years of shutdown corner left in him? I couldn’t tell you. If Revis is kept, the entire team will likely be in flux. Amendola might get cut, Wilfork might get cut, and McCourty is almost certainly gone as well. The Patriots also wouldn’t have a lot of spending money going forwards either. They might be able to sign someone like Charles Tillman and move him to safety.
I think all of this depends on Malcolm Butler and the other young corner backs. We know Browner will be on the other side, we know Arrington will be in the slot, but what about Ryan, Dennard and Butler? If the front office has enough faith in one of those guys Revis will be allowed to walk in free agency. I personally would love to see both back but I think McCourty has more upside, he’s younger, he’d be cheaper and he is more familiar with the system. Shutdown corners are great and all, but I thought we knew that Revis was basically a one-year rental. He got his Super Bowl, just let him go back to the Jets where he’ll end his career. I’d hate to see him go, but there has to be a point where the Patriots just have to pass.