Devin McCourty entered the NFL as a cornerback. Eventually, Patriots coach Bill Belichick moved to McCourty to safety. Now, with a constant stream of cornerbacks leaving New England, an intriguing question has emerged, via Karen Guregian of the Boston Herald, as noted in Sunday’s one-liners.
Will Belichick move McCourty back to cornerback?
It would be a shrewd move, given that McCourty signed a new contract premised on playing the position of safety. And if wouldn’t be out of character for Belichick to move the pieces of his roster to address a need; he’s done it before on multiple occasions by moving receivers to defensive back.
But as Guregian notes, it could be better to have McCourty playing centerfield, guarding against largely unproven cornerbacks getting toasted. Or maybe McCourty will do a bunch of different things, with the opponent never quite knowing whether he’ll be covering a specific receiver or a general swath of real estate.
Regardless of how and where he’s used, McCourty becomes more important than ever to the Patriots. So important that, if he’d known when negotiating his contract what he knows now, he could have squeezed a lot more cash out of the team’s coffers, regardless of whether he’s listed as a safety or a corner.