Kansas City Chiefs should call on these veteran cornerbacks
By Matt Conner
Jason McCourty, New England Patriots
Right now, I’m assuming Jason McCourty doesn’t want to go anywhere. He’s playing for a team that basically starts a season assuming it will play in the Super Bowl six months later, and it helps to have his brother on the roster as well. Winning a Lombardi Trophy as a family affair is the stuff of dreams, so no one would fault McCourty for wanting to stay with the New England Patriots.
But here’s the issue: he might not have a choice.
As the Patriots make their calls for who stays and who goes over the next week, McCourty undoubtedly knows he’s on the team’s roster bubble. In the team’s most recent preseason game, Jason McCourty lined up at safety for the very first time in his 10-year career. It’s simply what you do when you need to make a team.
McCourty has played cornerback for the last 9 years in the NFL, 8 of them for the Tennessee Titans and last year with the Cleveland Browns. He was traded to the Pats this offseason as an answer for the loss of Malcolm Butler, but the switch hasn’t been nearly that simple. Stephon Gilmore and Eric Rowe are locked in as the answers outside. Duke Dawson, Jonathan Jones, Ryan Lewis, Cyrus Jones and others have all looked good or have reasons to believe in their roster spot, which could put McCourty on the outs—or at least at another position.
Just last year, McCourty started 14 games for the Browns and had 3 interceptions, bringing his career totals to 16 INTs in 104 career starts. Even after 9 years, Pro Football Focus graded him as the No. 31 overall corner in the NFL last year—certainly not a perfect metric by any means but at least some way of noticing that he looked solid on the season.
The Pats inherited McCourty’s contract in the trade with Cleveland, which calls for just under $3 million in cap hit for 2018 (and nothing beyond) but there’s zero hit if they cut him outright. The Chiefs would have to determine whether they’d be interested in a trade at that cost or hope they could sign him if the Pats would drop him.
However if Veach really is a motivated buyer before the season, McCourty could look nice in red and gold as a veteran who actually isn’t being counted on the bounce back from something.