One of the greatest Patriots ever has finally hanged up his cleats. Great Patriots safety Devin McCourty has announced his retirement after 13-years with the team, capping off one of the greatest defensive careers in team history.
What else is there to say about Devin McCourty other than he’s going to go down as one of the greatest Patriots secondary players in team history, if not the greatest already.
Devin McCourty has been the staple of the Patriots defensive backfield ever since his introduction into the team in 2010 as he’s become a 3X Super Bowl champions, 5X Super Bowl finalist, 10X AFC East winner, 3X All-Pro (all second team), 2X Pro-Bowler, and left the NFL as the all-time interception leader among active players with 35.
Moreover, he was snubbed by the Pro Football Hall of Fame and the NFL by not getting a nod on the 2010’s All-Decade Team, even though he has the most Super Bowl wins and interceptions of any defensive player from the 2010’s.
And that list includes the likes of Eric Weddle (member of the 2010’s all-decade team), Earl Thomas (member of the 2010’s all-decade team), Eric Berry (member of the 2010’s all-decade team), Harrison Smith, Kam Chancellor, Malcolm Jenkins, and Reggie Nelson. I’m not saying the guys who made the all-decade team are undeserving, but there’s no way one can make a list such as that without including Devin McCourty on it.
Nevertheless, the rest of his stats were just as impressive as his accomplishments as he racked up 971 tackles, 740 solo tackles, 11 FF, 7 FR, 205 starts (played in 205 career games), 20 TFL as a safety, 110 PD, 2 defensive TDs, over 550 defensive yards returned from interceptions (581 to be exact), and obviously his impressive 35 interceptions.
Plus, he just capped off one of the best seasons of his career this past year with 17 starts (as a 35-year-old safety), 71 tackles (his most since 2018), 54 solo tackles (his most since 2018), 1 FR, 8 PD (his second most since 2013), and 4 interceptions (his most since 2019). Again, I want to stress that he was 35 years old when he did all of this!
Earl Thomas was out of the league when he hit 30, Eric Weddle retired from the regular season when he was 34 (he came back for 4 playoff games in 2021 at 36), Eric Berry was also a broken shell of himself when he hit the 30th birthday mark, Kam Chancellor got his career-ending neck injury when he was 29, Malcolm Jenkins retired when he was 34, Reggie Nelson was a backup when he was 35 in 2021 (which also was his last season in the NFL).
Out of all the great 2010 safeties I mentioned, only Harrion Smith (34) was still playing the NFL with Devin McCourty last season. And he’s not the same player he was a few seasons ago.
Simply put, being an NFL safety is one of the hardest, most physically demanding positions in all of football, and Devin McCourty was able to be a great one for 13 years.
If you look up the words consistency, excellence, and durability in a Google search, you better see Devin McCourty as the first image to pop up. No other safety since his draft year of 2010 has been as good, consistence, and dominate for as long as the great #32, which is why I think he’s a bonified Hall of Famer.
Congratulations on retirement, Devin McCourty, you have more than earned it!
Images Source: Featured Image: (Wikimedia Creative Commons License/Author: Jeffrey Beall)(Jeffrey Beall, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons)
