Ex-Patriots defender says quiet part out loud about New England's WR drama

The Patriots 2024 season has been in disarray since Week 1, despite the team pulling out an unexpected win over the Bengals. It was a solid showing and morale booster for a team not predicted to do much in the first year of a rebuild, but also created a false tone for the rest of the season.

While it was impressive to see the team rally and win, it created a belief that more games like that were to come, which was quickly proven wrong when they went on a six-game losing streak to follow. Although their season wasn't ever going to be easy, the losses piling up seemed to take a toll on the team, especially the offense, leading to most of the wide receivers taking their problems to the media or online, none of which were great for the vibe in the locker room.

It's a very uncharacteristic way for Patriots players to handle things, as Bill Belichick enforced keeping things behind closed doors. Jerod Mayo has said he is good with players airing out their grievances publicly, but it's clear taking that route is not working in their favor whatsoever.

That has prompted analysts and former players to speak out on the matter, with Super Bowl Champion Jason McCourty becoming the latest. Although he was with the team for a short time, his brother, Devin, was with the team for his entire career, and the Belichick way of doing things was nothing new for him.

He firmly believes the current regime and the roster need to embrace that part of the Patriot Way moving forward.

Jason McCourty is not a fan of Patriots players speaking publicly about their issues with the team

It was a topic of discussion when McCourty joined Tom E. Curran on NBC Sports Boston earlier this week on the Patriots Talk podcast.

The retired cornerback did not hold back his thoughts on what is going on in New England, specifically with their wide receivers, and sent a stern message to the locker room for the rest of the season.

"You have Polk saying in public saying he has the best hands in the league, and then you're not making tough contested catches. You have veterans like (K.J.) Osborn posting screenshots of text messages. Stuff like that, you just can't have.

I would urge players, if you like your head coach, and you like the direction your team is going, shut the hell up in the media. Go out there on a Sunday and make plays and ball, and leave all the rest of the stuff to be determined by the front office, coaches and all of that to handle it."

Read more: NFL insider shares theory regarding Patriots issues with their wide receivers

Because he (unfortunately) played on many losing teams throughout his 13-year career, McCourty knows how difficult it is and can be to be part of a locker room attempting to navigate how to handle the losses.

It's something new in New England over the past few years, which some of the veteran players are having to adjust to. However, it's the first year of a new regime, so the negativity in public is not a great look for the staff, according to McCourty. He feels it's even worse if the players like their head coach, which was the case all offseason.

"Because that was my thing. When you're on teams that aren't winning, everybody's looking for any fracture or any crack within the organization to sow dissension or a coach that doesn't have control over a locker room or anything like that. So that, from the outside looking in, that's bothered me, of being around the team in the preseason and seeing the energy and the love that everybody had for the new way that everything was rolling, and then you see things like that happen, just, like, well, that's not adding up.

You're so used to having success and expectation when you hear New England Patriots, that when it's not going your way, sometimes people don't know how to react in adversity because you haven't had to deal with it. But you had to assume that it wasn't going to be smooth sailing of a season."

He brings up a potentially compelling issue that might need to be explored more. If the roster truly is enjoying the new coaching staff and the path they're on, would they be behaving this way? It would seem unlikely, pointing to an even bigger problem in Foxboro.

The hope, of course, that isn't the case. But time will tell.

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