Patriots: Devin McCourty’s high praise for Kyle Dugger shows he’s ready for mentor role

Patriots DB Devin McCourty is ready for football, and ready to welcome Kyle Dugger to the fraternity.

In recent years, the Patriots have become a DB factory and an NFL program that thrives on making small-school players feel appreciated and at home.

24-year-old Lenoir–Rhyne safety Kyle Dugger absolutely fits that mold; New England’s hard-hitting top pick in the 2020 NFL Draft is entering a situation perfectly designed for his success.

And so far, the old guard likes what they see.

Devin McCourty flirted with missing the 2020 season, alongside his brother, and worried about what the league would look like, mid-pandemic. He was especially nervous, before committing, about the way his fellow athletes were treating their role in controlling the spread.

It goes without saying, then, that a large portion of the reason he returned was to make sure that younger players understood the responsibility they had ahead of them, both on and off the field. It’s why Dugger seemed to be a natural fit for McCourty’s brand of mentorship, and also why we’re not at all shocked that the two are hitting it off already.

As the Boston Globe wrote about McCourty’s influence on Dugger, he’s the type of DB that thrives on mentoring the next generation. Needless to say, he’s excited to have such a high draft pick flocking around him.

"“I just think it’s been good,” McCourty told gathered Patriots reporters this week about Dugger’s arrival and initial practices. “I’m always excited when you get new rookies in and guys that are eager to learn. And he’s been like that. I shared some messages with him before we even started, just talking to him about the defense, about being a professional a little bit. But he’s been like that.”"

McCourty isn’t taking this role passively, either — he sees it as his job to quiz Dugger and the other DBs around him, and attempt to surprise them with opportunities to display their mastery of the playbook. The grind never stops in New England, after all.

And it makes you wonder: If he hadn’t returned at the tail end of the offseason, would Dugger have been set up similarly to succeed?

"“Obviously they’re far from perfect,” McCourty continued. “But it shows up the times that they get things right. Sometimes it’s some of the more advanced stuff, but you can tell they’re putting in the work, they’re trying to learn from everybody in our meeting rooms, whether it’s myself, whether it’s [Jason McCourty] or [Stephon Gilmore], trying to give them a coaching point from our experience. You can tell those guys are hanging on to it like a sponge.”"

While the lion’s share of the learning goes on behind closed doors, McCourty’s pupil has already shown off his ball skills in the open portions of practice, helping to create Jarrett Stidham’s nightmare day on Tuesday.

It won’t be long before the student becomes the master, and McCourty knows that. Ultimately, that’s the reason he’s back, for one of his last rides.

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