Jason McCourty acknowledges Patriots are his first choice
Jason McCourty might be entering unrestricted free agency in two weeks, but he’s making it publicly known his preference would be to stay in New England.
Devin McCourty recently announced his intentions to forgo retirement and return to the New England Patriots in 2019. Now it’s Devin’s twin brother, Jason, who is hoping he will have the same opportunity this offseason.
Jason McCourty felt robbed of the chance to really explore the open NFL market when the Tennessee Titans released him just 10 days before the draft in 2017.
“I felt like I kind of got shafted a little bit in my free agency experience that year because by waiting so long to release me, 10 corners had already been picked up and it was really just the bottom of the barrel left,” McCourty told NBCSports’ Tom Curran. He eventually signed a two-year, $6 million contract with the Cleveland Browns, who went on to go 0-16 that year.
What a change it must have been, then, to get traded to New England, play a full season with his twin brother, make the playoffs, and then win a Super Bowl championship. It’s no wonder McCourty’s top choice would be to remain with his brother on the Patriots.
"“First and foremost, if I could be back in New England and all of that works out, that would be awesome. That way it wouldn’t be the third consecutive year I had to move my family. That would be an advantage.”"
Still, McCourty understands the fickle nature of playing professional football, and he was quick to acknowledge that the NFL is, after all, a business.
“There’s so much more that goes into it. When March rolls around we’ll see where everything’s at and then at the end of the day we’ll see where the opportunities are and then make a decision.”
By all accounts, Jason McCourty probably played his way into a lucrative new contract. He didn’t start many of the early games for the Patriots, but as the year went on, he became more and more valuable to the team. Eventually, Bill Belichick locked him in as a permanent starter, and trusted him with defending some of the top receivers in the league during the 2018/2019 playoffs.
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McCourty’s best moment in a Patriots uniform came on the grandest stage of all. In Super Bowl 53, he knocked a would-be touchdown pass out of the arms of Los Angeles Rams receiver Brandin Cooks. The deflection was instrumental in keeping the Rams out of the end zone, and helped preserve a 13-3 New England victory.