Devin McCourty’s career path has taken an unexpected turn that no one saw coming. After being shifted to safety, McCourty has been rock solid for the Patriots defense.
McCourty has emerged as a rising star in the safety position. He is regarded as one of the best deep safeties in football thanks to his remarkable combination of reaction time, range, closing speed, and ball skills.
Being an ideal safety for the Patriots defense thanks to his reading and reaction skills helps, but McCourty has worked hard and traveled a long road to get to this point.
McCourty, a cornerback drafted in 2010 out of Rutgers, had a spectacular rookie year, finishing with a league-high seven interceptions.
While McCourty’s meteoric ascension in 2010 will be remembered, the subsequent 2011 season will be remembered for his spectacular fall, as he gave up more than 1,000 yards in the air.
Against the Buffalo Bills in the season finale that same year, McCourty made the transition to safety and immediately showed why he was a strong match for the position.
Ryan Fitzpatrick, the Bills’ quarterback, started in the shotgun formation with four wideouts and one running back spread out. The Patriots countered with seven defenders, with man coverage from the corners and a Cover 2 shell from the safeties.
Patrick Chung joined McCourty in deep coverage on the other side of the field after the snap, disguising Cover 1 by sitting at the top of the formation as the only safety.
Why did Devin McCourty move to safety?
As a result of injuries sustained by both Patrick Chung and Steve Gregory, Devin McCourty was moved to the safety position. The Patriots were forced to make impromptu changes to their secondary, and prior to those changes, they had allowed 33 pass plays of 20 yards or more over the course of the first six games of the season. It all started with McCourty, who was only the first domino to topple.