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Patriots Best Move Is to Leave Devin McCourty At Safety


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I completely understand why people want to move McCourty to corner, but I am strongly against this. McCourty is probably a top 25 corner, would be the #1 corner on most teams. However, he is a top 5 safety, if not top 3. For this reason I would never trade an elite player for an above average player. Plus in a zone scheme, the bifurcation between CB and safety is less clear.
 
Yes they have .

Ocho Stinko received 6 million bucks to drink Starbucks and operate his Twitter account. Shaun Ellis got a 3 million dollar going away present. Colvin never lived up to his money and neither did Adalius Thomas. Im not viewing money to mean anything in terms of quality of position.

Yes, Safety is weakened, but you have no pass defense without CBs.

For one, you brought up money, not me. For another, McCourty has proven that he will earn that pay in the future... as a safety. Not as a corner. For a third, McCourty is not going to fix the woes at CB. I think people forget just how much he struggled there before. There is a damn good reason he was moved to safety and the Patriots will intend on keeping him there. Him moving to CB won't do the position enough good to warrant hurting the corps at safety.


I think Fletcher is as good a CB as Browner was, not a #1 but a very capable #2 CB.

May I ask what you're basing this on?
 
Either BB will come up with something new mixing the formations (he doesn't have the flexibility to do this like he had last year) or DMac will be playing safety.

BB strategy seems to be something on the lines of "I lost my top CB, the other is not a good fit now, there's nothing interesting in the draft (or out of range, Byron Jones and Marcus Peters) and in the market, I will strength the front 7 and get some guys that are capable of intercepting some balls hoping that the front 7 will cause problems for QB's having a clean pocket and see how it goes".

If oppose O-Lines hold up enough to give the QB time it will be a tragedy and BB knows that.

What is weird for me is that if you are totally weak in a position and there's no much you can do to fix it, you strength others, and he did that in the front seven. But I was expecting a little more in the offense, especially a Running Back. He must be really confident on the guys currently in place. I read somewhere that the Patriots moves so far on the offense indicates that they are going to field a offense capable of chewing a lot of time on the clock just like they did in the SB. A young hard-nosed running back would be a big part of it.
 
For one, you brought up money, not me. For another, McCourty has proven that he will earn that pay in the future... as a safety. Not as a corner. For a third, McCourty is not going to fix the woes at CB. I think people forget just how much he struggled there before. There is a damn good reason he was moved to safety and the Patriots will intend on keeping him there. Him moving to CB won't do the position enough good to warrant hurting the corps at safety.

I never implied that you brought money into the equation. My point still stands that more money does not make a player one of the best at his position.

It remains to be seen what Mcourty will do without good Corners if he stays at Safety. NE pass defenses were poor until Talib and then Revis came aboard.
 
Incorrect. A great front 7 can definitely cover up a weak secondary.

You cant always get to the QB.

Good QBs pick apart loose coverage even under a pass rush.
 
I don't know why more people aren't high on Butler. He played well for the most part last year when called upon. He definitely wasn't just a one play wonder.
 
I never implied that you brought money into the equation. My point still stands that more money does not make a player one of the best at his position.

That's a straw man that you're floating as I never made that claim either. You said the team paid McCourty the kind of money they did to possibly move him to corner and all I pointed out was that they paid him top safety money.

It remains to be seen what Mcourty will do without good Corners if he stays at Safety. NE pass defenses were poor until Talib and then Revis came aboard.

I agree the team still needs a CB1 and possibly a CB2, but we saw the improvement in the pass defense in Week 17 against Buffalo and throughout the playoffs in 2011. The secondary was still poor because the corners and the other safety position were a mess, but it wasn't the "2nd worst all time pass defense" secondary that we saw throughout that season. His range very much made up for a lot of deficiencies.
 
You cant always get to the QB.

Good QBs pick apart loose coverage even under a pass rush.
You don't have to get to the QB every time. If you have a great pass rush then the QB will be rushed when making a throw, a rushed throw is usually a bad throw. Also since the QB has less time in the pocket than that means the secondary won't have to cover their man for nearly as long.
 
Either BB will come up with something new mixing the formations (he doesn't have the flexibility to do this like he had last year) or DMac will be playing safety.

BB strategy seems to be something on the lines of "I lost my top CB, the other is not a good fit now, there's nothing interesting in the draft (or out of range, Byron Jones and Marcus Peters) and in the market, I will strength the front 7 and get some guys that are capable of intercepting some balls hoping that the front 7 will cause problems for QB's having a clean pocket and see how it goes".

If oppose O-Lines hold up enough to give the QB time it will be a tragedy and BB knows that.

What is weird for me is that if you are totally weak in a position and there's no much you can do to fix it, you strength others, and he did that in the front seven. But I was expecting a little more in the offense, especially a Running Back. He must be really confident on the guys currently in place. I read somewhere that the Patriots moves so far on the offense indicates that they are going to field a offense capable of chewing a lot of time on the clock just like they did in the SB. A young hard-nosed running back would be a big part of it.
We already have a hard-nosed running back. Blount led the league in Yards After Contact Per Attempt with Marshawn Lynch coming in second.
 
Amazing. Devin McCourty is the first player in NFL history to make All Pro at two different positions because of the play of others.
 
One of our starting CBs in the 2004 SB was Randall Gay.
One of our starting CBs in the 2004 SB was Ty Poole.

These guys weren't bad, but they were marginal NFL starting CBs. In BB I trust.
 
You mean the best move would be to leave a guy that can't get his head around in man coverage at safety? You also mean to tell me that he's one of the better safeties in the league? I'm absolutely shocked.

To be serious, I literally have no clue why people want to move McCourty to CB again. Not only is he a very limited CB, but that move also makes two positions weaker in the course of one offseason.

I have no clue why anyone would think moving McCourty to corner would make the corner position weaker.
 
I think Fletcher is as good a CB as Browner was, not a #1 but a very capable #2 CB.

I'm waiting for the punch line.

1) Say that your are right (or close) in that we did indeed do OK in replacing Browner with Fletcher.

2) And how did we do with replacing Arrington with McClain?

3) And how did we do, replacing Revis with Butler?
 
I have no clue why anyone would think moving McCourty to corner would make the corner position weaker.

Those who think that it would "weaken two positions" believe so because they obviously don't care for DMcC's play at the position of cornerback. I'm not sure myself because we saw two entirely different versions of him at CB, but if I had to choose, I would certainly leave him at safety.

Luckily, we don't have to make these decisions.
 
I don't know why more people aren't high on Butler. He played well for the most part last year when called upon. He definitely wasn't just a one play wonder.

It's much more of a case of people wildly overrating his past play. He did jack for most of last year.
 
I have no clue why anyone would think moving McCourty to corner would make the corner position weaker.

I suspect that's in reference to last year's CBs, and there's confusion in the jumble of last year v. this year. It's entirely possible that McCourty would be a CB upgrade compared to the other CBs currently on the roster but, barring amazing resurgences and development, that's like testing out as the smartest idiot in the room. In the meantime, it would weaken the safety position, which should already be considered suspect because of the S2.
 
That's a straw man that you're floating as I never made that claim either. You said the team paid McCourty the kind of money they did to possibly move him to corner and all I pointed out was that they paid him top safety money.

Not a strawman but an observation and opinion.

Mcourty has stated numerous times how much he loves playing Safety. The money sweetens the transition back to Mcourtys old position and states that the Pats are behind him 100%. Like with Stinko. Here is 6 million dollars guaranteed, now go out and light it up with Tom Brady.

A wagon before the horse approach.
 
You don't have to get to the QB every time. If you have a great pass rush then the QB will be rushed when making a throw, a rushed throw is usually a bad throw. Also since the QB has less time in the pocket than that means the secondary won't have to cover their man for nearly as long.

If the plan is to get to the QB every then the other team will just stay in an offense to counter that. Rodgers, Manning, Flacco and QBs of that caliber will have a field day playing NE.

Draws and Screens all day long. Big windows to throw into. Maximum protection and send Steve Smith or Jordy Nelson or Emanuel Sanders out vs Logan Ryan.

The Pats defensive style has been to mix it up and pick and choose when they are going after the QB. Not rely on the pass rush as the pass defense.
 
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