Analysis: Examining how Jason McCourty's skills fit with the Patriots

So what sort of player is Jason McCourty? Much more than just the twin brother of one of the Patriots’ most valuable defenders.

A look at his film reveals New England has acquired a guy who is a good second corner, a durable (he played 84 percent of the snaps last year and 74 percent the year before that) defender with good ball skills who is more than capable in man or zone coverage. Pro Football Focus had him ranked 17th among all cornerbacks last year, better than Stephon Gilmore (31) and Malcolm Butler (48th).

Going into the final year of a contract that pays him $3 million, Jason will have the chance to play alongside his brother at the NFL level, something that Devin has joked about over the years.

“Bill (Belichick) doesn’t listen to me,” Devin McCourty joked when asked about the possibility last year when Jason was a free agent. "If he did listen to me, I'd shoot him a text message and say I don't know if he heard the news but Jason McCourty's a free agent. He'll listen to me sometimes about my opinion in the deep middle, but scouting players he stays away from me. (But) I usually have a good thing with the Rutgers guys so you never know."

Prior to the season-opener against the Titans in 2012, Belichick was asked about the similarities between the brothers.

“I have never actually coached Jason. I just scouted him coming out of Rutgers and (I’ve) seen him with Tennessee,” recalled Belichick of the twins, who were about to embark on their third year in the league at that point. “It looks like both players are fast and they are willing to tackle. They make plays on the ball and in the running game and tackling. They are both pretty smart and pretty dependable. They both try to play their technique and the way they wanted to play the technique on defense, they are pretty consistent. Those things look pretty similar to me.”

To Belichick’s point, both are very similar, with Devin’s field awareness and nose for the ball coming through in a lot of Jason’s skill set. Jason had three interceptions last season, his third year where he had three or more picks, and has 16 career interceptions. (He had a career-best four in 2012.) Like Devin, he’s not overly flashy at all — solid and dependable are two phrases that come to mind while watching him play. He’s smart, and that comes through in many ways, including the fact that he doesn’t appear to take many chances.

His drawback? He appears vulnerable to guys with good straight-line speed. Some of that can be minimized because he’s very rarely out of position and is a good tackler. (And his field awareness can also occasionally make up for that — two of his three picks last season came on poorly thrown deep balls against speedy receivers.) But it’s something that will bear watching this season in New England.

In the 2017 film, he plays almost exclusively at defensive right corner. (While the acclimation process of playing alongside his brother Devin in the pros, it’ll be interesting to see how he meshes with the other defensive backs, namely Gilmore, and how Brian Flores can maximize their talents together.) I picked out a few plays of his from 2017 to give you a sense of what he can bring to the table. First, on this short yardage pass play to Jermaine Kearse, he shows great closing speed and does a good job knocking the ball away.



A good look at his physical skills. Here, he runs with tight end Austin Sefarian-Jenkins, and does another nice job knocking the ball away at the last minute to register the PBU. Might have been a flag, but a good physical play nonetheless.



This is one of his three picks from last year. Not sure you could read a play any better than McCourty did here, jumping the route on Josh McCown and coming away with a slick interception on a ball meant for Robby Anderson. Smart, well-positioned and well-executed.



His only pick-six of the year came here against Houston on a woefully underthrown ball from Deshaun Watson. Not a great offering by the young quarterback, but McCourty high-points it, and has the presence of mind to set up his blockers for a touchdown. A well-executed play, both from a physical and mental standpoint.



When it comes to my point about keeping up with speedy receivers, here’s one indication. Not a great play here for McCourty, as he gives a little too much cushion on a fourth-and-short, and is then beaten to the outside by the receiver for the first down. Some of the cushion could be a coaching point, but the lack of execution in letting the receiver reach the first-down marker is on the player.



Not sure who was at fault here — no idea of the coverage package — so I’m hesitant to blame McCourty here, or the rookie safety Kai Nacua. But this is a breakdown of ghastly proportions on what at least appears to be a broken play. It looks like Nacua isn’t sure if he needs to stay deep or come up and cover Davante Adams in the slot, who was uncovered coming off the line. Regardless, Green Bay’s Jamaal Williams runs right past McCourty for one of the easiest touchdowns you’ll ever see.



And on this one, he gets spun around a couple of times at the end of this play by Antonio Brown, which allowed Brown almost 10 extra yards. But truth be told, I don’t know if there’s enough bandwidth on the Internet to post all the videos of Brown making defensive backs look bad. So let’s just say he’s in pretty good company.



Ultimately, this acquisition is about more than just Belichick doing one of his favorite Patriots a solid by signing his brother. New England has managed to add a stabilizing presence at corner at a relatively reduced rate. If he can stay healthy and play at the same level he did for much of 2017 for a team that finished 0-16, it’s reasonable to think that the Patriots have found their No. 2 corner, at least for the coming season.