OK. Then we simply have a fundamental disagreement, both on your assessment of McCourty's impact, and on your relative greatness yet solid and unspectacular impact formulation. On the latter, I really only see this applying (to any appreciable extent) with skill position players, or where players are forced into positions and/or schemes that are mismatched to their skill set. I don't see either applying in McCourty's case:
http://nesn.com/2014/11/patriots-film-review-patrick-chung-devin-mccourty-being-used-perfectly/
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1848925-devin-mccourty-developing-into-premier-nfl-safety
On impact:
http://www.sbnation.com/nfl/2015/1/...atriots-defense-darelle-revis-brandon-browner
So, not only is McCourty elite relative to his peers, but he's a perfect fit for the Patriots defense, as BB and Brady have acknowledged. He's got elite ball skills, he's versatile, he's durable, he's a leader of the defense, and, I would argue (contra your argument above) that surrounding defenders benefit more from playing around him (I'm looking at you, Patrick Chung).
Maybe. But since I don't buy your McCourty arguments, I don't/wouldn't buy your Mayo arguments either.
A fair opinion to have no doubt. I shared a lot of the same opinions as you guys about 12 months ago. It was kind of eye opening to me to just see what McCourty's actual impact was from a game to game/play by play basis. To be honest from my junior evaluators chair at home, I was like "Is that it?". Maybe BB values different things than I do, maybe I'm right on the money, maybe we'll see.
Purchasing Rewind has allowed me to form a lot of my own opinions independent of what is typically written. I'm sure there is a lot I'm wrong about, but it makes watching NFL football for me seem a lot more like scouting for the draft. The McCourty topic is one that I'm fairly passionate about. Maybe I'm right, but who knows.