There is plenty of confusion and curiosity about what the New England Patriots plan to do in regards to the future of safety Devin McCourty.
The nine-year veteran is now 30-years-old and plays a very physically demanding position. With a cap figure next year of $13.4 million, many fans are concerned he will be released with a year left on his contract much like Lawyer Milloy was.
Tim Benz, however, believes the best move for New England would be a three-year restructuring of his contract. That way the Patriots could pay him his due salary in a signing bonus and keep the cap hit a few years down the road.
If McCourty is unable to physically handle the job in the back third of the defense full-time, Benz deems it possible that he could evolve into Patrick Chung’s role of a hybrid safety/linebacker. Coincidentally, a role that the Rutgers product absorbed when Patrick Chung left Super Bowl LIII with an injury.
This idea may require McCourty to put on roughly 15 pounds to fulfill that job on a full-time basis, but Benz supposes that is something that will be easier to accomplish as he reached his thirties.
