Three takeaways from the Tuesday afternoon conference call with Jason McCourty

Cornerback Jason McCourty connected with the media on Tuesday for the first time since his trade to New England, and touched on a variety of topics. Here are the three most intriguing things — how the suddenly the trade came together, what he knows about the Patriots system (thanks in no small part to his brother Devin) and what his greatest strengths are as a player.


1. When it came to him joining the Patriots, things came together really quickly.

Last Thursday, Jason got a call from the Browns saying he was going to be released. He told his brother about what happened, and then, went to go work out. Unbeknownst to him, the personnel move on the part of the Browns set off a chain of events.

“As soon as I got released, (Devin) showed me he texted (de factor defensive coordinator Brian Flores), and was just like, ‘Man, how do we get Jason to New England? I’m going to text Bill (Belichick),’ so I think he hit up Bill about it. But I think at that point the trade was already in the process.

“Then I get a FaceTime from (Devin) while I’m working out and he was just like, ‘Yo, don’t worry about it. We’re going to trade for you. You’re coming to New England.’ I was just kind of looking at him because I thought he was joking around,” he added. “About five minutes later, I get a call from John Dorsey, the GM in Cleveland, and he’s like, ‘I got some news for you. We’re not going to release you, so we’re going to trade you to New England.’ It was, I guess, a roller-coaster type of day.”

2. He doesn’t anticipate a need for a lot of transitional time when it comes to getting used to New England’s system.

One of the things that stood out for us when it came to watching Jason play with the Browns last year was the fact that he appeared to play a lot of zone and off-ball stuff as opposed to man coverage. It’ll be interesting to see how much — if at all — that was more about scheme as opposed to individual preferences, especially when it comes to joining a team in New England that plays more man. (For what it's worth, he said he’s just as comfortable playing off receivers as he is in press coverage.) On Tuesday, he said the fact that he’s played for several different defensive coordinators over the course of his career has forced him to adjust as needed.

“I’ve been able to only play for two teams throughout my nine-year career, but I’ve had a good amount of defensive coordinators. And I think when you have to do that, you’re forced to have to adjust,” he explained. “You get used to different terminology, different systems, so you start to combine them all and make sense of things.

“Just over the years of following my brother and the team, I walk into this locker room already having a really good idea of a bunch of the guys on the roster so that, I think, will help for an easier transition,” he said. “Over the years of going down to the Super Bowls when Dev goes or coming to visit him at different points of the season, I’ve really gotten a chance to meet a lot of the guys.”

3. His experience is one of his strongest attributes.

He fact that he’s “been around the block” is something the 30-year-old Jason says works in his favor.

“I feel like at this point one of my biggest strengths is experience,” he said. “Going against different offensive coordinators, going against different opponents year in and year out. I’m very comfortable playing off-technique, playing press technique. I’ve just had to do it in so many different systems and switch up.

“Beyond that, just being in the different systems and facing different adversities. I feel like I’ve been able to learn to get along and be able to connect a lot of people,” he added. “Just getting acclimated there and being able to get the guys to trust me enough to say, ‘Hey, he’s a vet who’s done it the right way. He knows what he’s talking about,’ to be able to let me lead them and be able to kind of help them grow. I think those are the things that I can bring to the team.”