McCourty Wants To Stay At Safety, But 'Up To The Coaches'
BOSTON (CBS) -- There has been a lot of talk about Patriots safety Devin McCourty moving back to corner, but it's not a move the All Pro would be very excited about.
McCourty came into the league as a corner, and had a spectacular rookie season in 2010. But he struggled his sophomore year in the NFL, and started to play some safety, officially moving to the position full-time with the acquisition of Aqib Talib in the middle of the 2013 season.
But with a rather large hole at corner, given that Darrelle Revis, Brandon Browner, Kyle Arrington and Alfonzo Dennard are no longer on the team, the Patriots are likely kicking around the idea of moving their best safety back to his original position. But it's a move that McCourty sounds hesitant to make -- not that he has the final say anyways.
"It's up to the coaches," McCourty said following Thursday's OTAs at Gillette Stadium. "I want to play safety, but it's out of my control. Whatever the coaches decide is what it will have to be."
McCourty isn't sure if such a move is being discussed, replying, "I'm not in the staff meetings," when asked by reporters.
However much resistance McCourty has to the potential move, it likely won't be a very difficult transition, given the many different sets the New England defense runs.
"I think for us we do so many different things defensively, game-plan wise. Right now, it's not as much since we're not game-planning for an offense," he said. "Whether you want to call it a safety playing a linebacker role, a corner playing a safety role or a safety playing a corner, depending on a match-up or how we want to play a team, yeah all that can happen."
McCourty said that versatility on the field in organized team activities pays dividends when the regular season rolls around.
"That's what's good about this time of year. You know we're just running defense and guys are playing positions and going out there competing," he said. "That helps us as we get into the season."
While we know he'll take up a No. 1 spot on the depth chart, now we wait to see which position McCourty will occupy.
