I don't know if safety is his natural position, but it's for sure his best position. He was good at corner his rookie year, terrible in 2011, and not any better in 2012 before they moved him to safety.
Pass Def may not be a very good metric, but from 2010-2013, McCourty has gone 17, 13, 13, 9. He has 15 career ints, but 7 of those came in his first year, and 8 in the three years since. He had one last year.
He obviously had a bad year in 2011, but let's not forget the change in system.The haters will obviously say that a great player should be great no matter what the system is. But I didn't see those comments when Chandler Jones was mis-cast as a 3-4 DE. I didn't see those blaming Revis when he was wasted in Tampa's system last year. And I doubt I'd see the same comments if we ran some zone read plays with Brady.
But McCourty got caught in a change that maximized his weaknesses and minimized his strengths. And you know what? He did so without complaint, never made one excuse at any point, and handled himself like a pro throughout. He did the best he could, and quite frankly, there was nobody better at the time but he did what was best for the team, like he always does. When they asked him to return kickoffs, he did it. When they asked him to play safety, he did it. He has always done whatever the team needs him to do, even if he wasn't the best guy to do it. And he stood up after every bad day and answered every tough question and never pointed one finger at anyone else but himself, which is why he has been a deserved choice as a team captain ever since his second season.
As for INTs, they really don't tell much for safeties. Here are the top 10 safeties in INTs in 2013:
1. Antrel Rolle
T2. Earl Thomas
T2. Tashaun Gibson
T4. Darius Butler (yes, that guy)
T4. Jairus Bird
T4. Quintin Demps
T4. Jim Leonhard
T4. Mike Mitchell
T4. Eric Reid
T4. Aaron Williams
So Gibson, Butler, Demps, Leonhard, and Williams all had more INTs than McCourty and Eric Berry and Kam Chancellor. Better draft those guys for your FF team.
Earl Thomas has never had more than 5 in a season, and had 3 and 2 in other seasons, but is the best safety in the game. His partner, Kam Chancellor, doesn't have an INT in 2 of his 4 seasons. Eric Weddle had 7 in 2011, but never got more than 3 (once) and then 2 in several other seasons. Eric Berry had 4, 1, 3. Lots of top-notch safeties don't have huge seasons filled with INTs. Most are doing their job by not getting thrown at.
There is a serious safety shortage in the league and teams are now spending 1st round picks on the position. From 1991-2001, only 3 safeties were drafted in the top 15 picks. From 2002 to 2009, another 5. But over the past 5 drafts, 4 (including Berry and Thomas) were drafted that high, with several more just outside that range. Guys like Ed Reed used to get drafted late in the 1st round because the position held lesser value to teams regardless of talent; now it's quickly becoming a premium spot.
Is McCourty the best safety in the game? No. Does he make mistakes? Absolutely. As does Chandler Jones. As does Tom Brady. As do you. As do I.
But is he a top 10 safety in a league starving for them? You better believe it.
Earl Thomas
Kam Chancellor
Eric Berry
Devin McCourty
Jairus Byrd
T.J. Ward
There's the top 6 in whatever order. You could put D-Mac 4th on that list, you could put him 6th, but either way, he's somewhere in there.
And who else is there in the safety mix? Throw in Whitner and Reid, though I take our guy over both. Maybe Rolle and Goldson? Throw in the potential of guys like Vaccarro, Smith and Elam. Maybe Landry and Nelson. Hell, even throw in Polamalu for nostalgia. That's enough for maybe half the teams in the league to have at least one solid starter.
I've already seen some people point out he's not as good as the best safety in the league. Let me explain how rankings work because apparently there are some brain-damaged folks on this board. If you are not #1 in a list, that means you are not the best. If you are #4, or #5, or #10, or #2 even, that means you are not as good as #1. I really don't understand why people need to keep throwing it out there like it disqualifies him from the top 10. It's as if they're saying you can't be the #7 safety if you're not as good as the #1 safety.
My head hurts from hearing this. Please stop it.
Edit: Forgot about Malcolmn Jenkins. So that's maybe 17 solid players out of 64 spots in the league.
). I would like to take this opportunity to thank myself for lighting a fire under McCourty's ass. I'm sure as he was running that int back he was thinking, this should shut FreeTedWillaims up!
