Jason McCourty’s Safety Debut A Sudden Twist In Patriots Preseason

The third preseason game wasn’t the best matchup New England Patriots took part in. They lost the game to the Carolina Panthers, and some Pats had to play two positions. Veteran defensive back Jason McCourty is one of them.

McCourty played both safety and cornerback. He switched from his corner to the free safety line in the first half of the game. The preseason was a big deal for him.

McCourty has never played safety before. “Last year, when I got to Cleveland, we had talked about it but never got the opportunity. For me, it’s exciting to get a chance to just have that vantage point and just see the differences. Over the years, you pick up a lot of football. It’s kind of a new challenge for me to say, ‘Hey, can I do this? Can I excel at it?’ It’s been fun so far,” McCourty said.

McCorty used the advice of his twin brother Devin McCourty between the drives. Devin took the safety spot in the team in 2012.

“It was cool to be back there. Every time I came off the field, (Devin) had at least five to 10 coaching points of something I could have done better. Definitely a cool opportunity to have a guy like him and (other safeties) like (Patrick) Chung, Duron (Harmon), who have been doing it for awhile in this defense, to be able to ask them questions and different things of that nature,” Jason said.

The move from cornerback position opens several questions about McCourty’s status in the roster. He isn’t a roster lock, as he was unable to overtake Eric Rowe in the effort to get the Pats’ other starting corner job.

McCourty will have to compete with Crossen, J.C. Jackson, Cyrus Jones, Ryan Lewis, and Jomal Wiltz. “I don’t really know what their plan is moving forward. But for right now, for me, (the position switch) was something that was asked of me, and I took it as a great opportunity to be able to go out there and kind of show myself what I could do at the position and anybody that was watching,” McCourty said.

Let’s see what happens next in the Pats organization.