FOXBOROUGH – Trying to replace what Devin McCourty brought to the table as a free safety was never going to be easy.
Following his retirement, that was a given.
With a roster filled with players more suited to playing strong safety, and no obvious replacement in-house, the Patriots made a point of shopping around in free agency during the offseason to potentially acquire someone who was experienced at the position, and enjoyed some success.
Both Taylor Rapp, now with the Buffalo Bills, and Nic Scott, currently with the Cincinnati Bengals, were in for visits, but nothing materialized.
That left Bill Belichick trying to put a collection of square pegs into a round hole.
Whether it was Kyle Dugger, Jabrill Peppers, Adrian Phillips, or Jalen Mills, their forte was being closer to the line, and making plays in the box.
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So instead of picking just one of them to play the McCourty role, the Patriots have basically gone with a committee, rotating players in and out.
According to Pro Football Focus, Peppers (219 snaps) and Dugger (182 snaps) have seen the most time playing deep centerfield. There’s also been a sprinkling of Mills (45 snaps), cornerback Myles Bryant (31 snaps) and rookie Marte Mapu (47 snaps). Cornerback Jonathan Jones has also played deep safety for a few snaps.
Eight games in, how has that approach worked?
Thus far, it’s been a mixed bag. Given the struggles of the offense, and the defense having to cope with significant injuries with both Matthew Judon and Christian Gonzalez out, life after McCourty has fallen a bit under the radar.
Watching Sunday’s loss to the Miami Dolphins, however, there were a few glitches. Two busted coverages in the secondary essentially led to a pair of Dolphins touchdowns.
On Tyreek Hill’s first quarter touchdown, Mapu was supposed to give J.C. Jackson safety help over the top. After Jackson bit on some motion at the line, Hill blew by him, and Mapu was nowhere to be found, taking a bad angle on the play. It was an easy 42-yard score for Hill.
Then on the game-breaking touchdown in the fourth quarter, Jaylen Waddle was left open after a mixup in coverage.
So it hasn’t been perfect. There have been some issues with communication, and some issues in terms of awareness picking up the play, two areas in which McCourty excelled.
On the plus side, speaking with both Mills and Phillips on Wednesday, with no designated free safety, or anyone in the room who’s a free safety by trade, the Patriots believe they’ve been better able to disguise coverages.
The Patriots can set up to play two or three-deep to start, and the opposing quarterback is left guessing which safety is going to drop deep. Buffalo’s Josh Allen sure looked like he wasn’t sure what he was seeing during the Pats’ Week 7 win over the Bills.
“The quarterback can figure out how to manipulate you, how to move you with his eyes and this and that if there’s only one person (designated as the free safety),” said Mills. “Now, if you have guys rotating, they have to play everything honest. They have to read everything honest. They have to get their reads first. Who’s the middle free safety? Are they going Cover 2? Are they going Cover 1? Is this guy dropping down? So that’s definitely an advantage.”
Speaking with McCourty during MassLive’s “Eye on Foxborough” podcast, the former defensive captain applauded the effort of the safeties all around, but wonders if some of Dugger’s impact and effectiveness are taken away when he plays deep centerfield.
“He had a really good game Sunday, but a lot of the other games I’ve watched, he’s out of position,” said McCourty. “I mean, that guy is phenomenal, but think about the last couple of years, some of the plays he’s made, it’s been jumping a screen pass, tipping it up, intercepting it.”
Those plays were made with Dugger in the box, not in centerfield. The way McCourty views it, Dugger and Peppers are similar players.
“Pep’s playing out of his mind. He’s playing really good football. But the stuff Peppers is doing, if you put Dugger over there, you’d get similar play,” McCourty said during the podcast. “They’re both explosive good players who can play deep, but their best football, is in that six-to-seven yard range man-to-man, zone, aggressive TFLs (tackles for loss). So it was fun watching Dugger Sunday making plays, and doing different things I think he does a really good job of.”
The Patriots had Mapu on the field more than he has been in the deep safety role. Listening to McCourty, the Pats need to figure out Mapu’s best position.
“They need to find a direct spot for Marte Mapu, who has flashed and shown great athletic ability,” said McCourty. “Is he going to be a linebacker? Is he going to be a safety? The hardest thing to do as a rookie, is learn two positions. You end up being OK at both, but you don’t get a chance to master (one).”
McCourty didn’t have that problem. After starting as a cornerback his rookie season, he mastered free safety, and held down the fort at the position for the next dozen seasons.
No surprise it’s taken a village to replace him.
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