Notebook: Devin McCourty says ex-college teammate Kenny Britt 'a good guy'

FOXBOROUGH — Count Devin McCourty as someone who’s in Kenny Britt’s corner.

“He’s a Rutgers guy,” smiled McCourty after practice on Wednesday. “Do we need to expand on that? We know what that means.”

The 6-foot-3, 215-pounder is a former Scarlet Knight who played with McCourty and Duron Harmon. Britt, who was at practice on Wednesday, has a locker in between tight end Rob Gronkowski and wide receiver Phillip Dorsett, near the end of a bank of lockers that includes Tom Brady and Danny Amendola.

Over the course of his NFL career, Britt (who will address the New England media later this week) has 327 catches for 5,114 yards and 32 touchdowns. That includes last year with the Rams when he finished with a career-high 68 catches for 1,002 yards and five touchdowns. However, he does bring some baggage with him to New England that includes multiple arrests as a professional.

On Wednesday, McCourty sounded like someone who was more than willing to provide a character reference.


“He’s a good guy, a joy to be around,” McCourty said of Britt, who has also played with the Browns, Rams and Titans over the course of his career. “Always upbeat, always smiling ear-to-ear, a physical guy, obviously big-bodied guy. You know, I’m excited for him – the opportunity to come here and try to catch on. Obviously, it’s tough coming in at this point in the year, just trying to learn as much as possible and get out there. It’s always exciting to have a guy you played with in college as a teammate in the NFL.”

Andrews not interested in war of words

On Tuesday, Miami defensive lineman Jordan Phillips posted an Instagram video that featured him being blocked by New England center David Andrews on a screen pass from Monday's game. On the play, Phillips went down, and later went to the sidelines for a spell before returning to the game. Phillips included the hashtag #dirtyplayer and #cantblock. Asked about it on Wednesday, Andrews declined to address the topic. … In other offensive line news, it appears that with Marcus Cannon going on the shelf for the rest of the season, LaAdrian Waddle moves from primary backup swing tackle to a full-time starters’ role. Waddle said Wednesday that he’s ready for action for a few reasons, not the least of which is the fact that he’s already been over there for most of the last month, as Cannon hasn’t played since an Oct. 29 win over the Chargers. “He’s been out for a little bit (and) we’ve just kind of been rolling with the guys that we have in there,” Waddle said. “Whoever is in there is going to do their best and prepare to take on whatever challenges we have.

Corrente on the call

Tony Corrente will work as the referee for Sunday’s Patriots-Steelers game. The 66-year-old Corrente is one of the longest-serving referees in the NFL, having worked in that capacity since 1999. This will mark his second New England game of the season — he also worked as the ref for a Patriots’ win over the Jets in North Jersey on Oct. 15. (That game featured a memorable call that took place on the New York goal line when Malcolm Butler ripped the ball away from Jets tight end Austin Sefarian-Jenkins, negating what would have been a New York touchdown.) For more on Corrente’s work as an official, check out his page at Pro Football Reference.