Let's say McCourty walks. What is the plan?

[Bourne Again Christian]

If he sniffs free agency I'm sorry to see him go he's one of my favorite Patriots as of late.
I agree with the poster who said Ryan and then Drafting Jones if he falls to us.

 

[varjao]

How do you all think Harmon compares to McCourty? He's clearly not as good, but I don't think he's awful. I think he's serviceable enough that if all the other parts remained the same and the D-line was able to be improved some, the unit wouldn't suffer much overall.

That's my feeling as well and as a matter of fact we don't know how he's doing on practices, maybe he's flying under the radar here, BB used him in proper situations this last season maybe because it was not necessary most of the time or maybe because he didn't want to show much, I don't know but after Steve Gregory's and Tavon Wilson's days I'm ok with Harmon/Ryan/Chung if and only if they keep the CB's and improve the pass rush like you said.

 

[kennyb]

Harmon will replace Mccourty with little fall off in production. Don't worry gents.

 

[Bourne Again Christian]

What if Revis and Mccourty both leave?

 

[PatsDeb]

Cry, then see what BB comes up with over the off season, then watch opening night, somewhere around September 9th.

 

[hwc]

Endorsement deals? For players on the Tennessee Titans? Surely you jest. The League office has never even heard of the Titans.

 

[English Patriot]

Really can't believe they might let him hit FA, unless the guy coming in has the name Thomas or Weddle on the back of his jersey this is stupidity.

 

[BradyFTW!]

If McCourty walks, then I think we see Ryan move to safety. I'm not at all convinced that using the tag elsewhere means he's walking, though. If he isn't signed in the next week, then I'll start to worry.

 

[Wrath Mania]

#Patriots do have a little over a week to work out a deal with McCourty; as of this AM, had not been any recent talks --@Shalisemyoung

 

[BobDigital]

#Patriots do have a little over a week to work out a deal with McCourty; as of this AM, had not been any recent talks --@Shalisemyoung[EMAIL='--@Shalisemyoung[/QUOTE'][EMAIL='--@Shalisemyoung[/QUOTE'][/QUOTE]



I just hope if McCourty is gone they don't over pay to keep Wilfork who is not nearly as valuable as this point. If McCourty's contract goes to keep him I will be so mad.
[/EMAIL][/EMAIL]

 

[Palm Beach Pats Fan]

What if Revis and Mccourty both leave?

1 of the 2 staying is realistic, and I'd prefer the one to be Revis.

If we go 0-for-2 we'll have an awful lot of re-tooling to do. No rookie will help much, and the cheaper free agent possibilities don't exactly seem to generate any enthusiasm, for me at least.

 

[fnordcircle]

If we lose both Revis and McCourty we're probably looking at a first round exit out of the playoffs like 2009 and 2010. I can't imagine our backfield coming close to what we have now without both of them.

 

[Brady_to_Moss]

quick...to the tobin everyone!

 

[Bourne Again Christian]

What about the Raiders safety to fill in for Mccourty.

 

[Kdo5]

Harmon will replace Mccourty with little fall off in production. Don't worry gents.

Little fall off, eh? What makes you so confident that replacing one of the best safeties in the league with a guy who is still unproven is "little fall off" at the poison?

 

[BSR]

If we lose both Revis and McCourty we're probably looking at a first round exit out of the playoffs like 2009 and 2010. I can't imagine our backfield coming close to what we have now without both of them.

Maybe a bit premature?

 

[Oswlek]

If we lose both Revis and McCourty we're probably looking at a first round exit out of the playoffs like 2009 and 2010. I can't imagine our backfield coming close to what we have now without both of them.

Not seeing the causal relationship you are. 2009 had nothing to do with the secondary and 2010 actually had better secondary performance than 2011.

Frankly, even if both Devin and Darrelle go, Browner/Dennard/Arrington/Butler/Chung/Harmon plus the certain batch of rookies would be a substantial upgrade over the prior SB participant. Hell, when you consider that Talib went down in both 2012 and 2013, it would probably be better than the secondaries that ended those seasons as well.

I'd like both back, but the team can survive without them.

 

[BSR]

Little fall off, eh? What makes you so confident that replacing one of the best safeties in the league with a guy who is still unproven is "little fall off" at the poison?

The fact that they didn't tag him?

 

[Patriots1364life]

I rather keep revis and thats not a knock on dmac. They need to restructure contracts. I would say see ya to vince. I love vince but he is not that guy anymore that can stuff the run all day.

 

[fnordcircle]

Maybe a bit premature?

Well yeah. But I'm just trying to do a realistic assessment of what we can expect. We've waited since 2005 to field a superbowl caliber defense and if we lose both Revis and McCourty I think we'll struggle.

I trust in this team (how could you not) but they don't play the 'win now' game and so if they can't sign Revis and McCourty without feeling it hampers their ability to be competitive in the future then so be it. But it's gonna definitely be a huge step back for us.