Safety Adrian Phillips, right, and cornerback Jonathan Jones are two of the players who will have to take on bigger roles in the Patriots defensive backfield after the retirement of safety Devin McCourty. Michael Dwyer/Associated Press
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — The Patriots have never wavered in their confidence that they can continue to succeed on defense without retired safety Devin McCourty, but they fully acknowledge there’s no replacing the “grumpy bald guy.”
That’s what safety Adrian Phillips jokingly called McCourty on Tuesday after training camp practice. Phillips said the process of filling in for McCourty is “going well.”
Phillips and fellow safeties Kyle Dugger, Jabrill Peppers and Jalen Mills and cornerback Jonathan Jones have taken on bigger roles communicating in the defensive backfield. Phillips has seen the most snaps at free safety this summer, but other players like Peppers and Mills have seen time there, as well. But Phillips detailed why McCourty is such a unique player to replace beyond just experience and leadership.
“With Dev, his whole career he ran low 4.3 (second 40-yard dash), so he could play things a certain way,” Phillips said. “He could sit on certain routes and play it a certain way. For other guys that might not be as fast as him, you might have to be more detailed with your reads, more detailed with your pedal and where you line up or post on the field.”
Therein lies the problem of replacing McCourty, because he had elite range as a free safety and the smarts and savvy to switch up his looks. McCourty ran a 4.38-second 40-yard dash coming out of Rutgers in 2010. The Patriots’ prospective free safeties all ran nearly a tenth of a second slower with Phillips clocking in at 4.58 seconds, Peppers at 4.46 seconds and Mills at 4.47 seconds. Cornerback Jonathan Jones has played safety before and could most easily replicate McCourty’s speed, but he’s one of the team’s best at his own position. And the Patriots might need him depending on how Jack Jones’ legal situation unfolds.
Phillips is enjoying his time at free safety and said he’s studied McCourty, Seattle Seahawks safety Quandre Diggs and Pittsburgh Steelers safety Minkah Fitzpatrick.
“It feels good. You kind of get used to what you’re doing a lot when you’ve got a guy like Dev back there because he is the middle-field roamer,” Phillips said. “He’s going to be the guy back there no matter what. But since he isn’t back there, it’s allowed me and it’s allowed other players to be able to get comfortable in the middle of the field, see how plays develop, seeing what your new keys will look like. I love being back there. Honestly, I just love being on the field period. But it does feel good to be back there and show some range and just have some fun.”
The Patriots believe there will be some trial and error this summer in figuring out how to best replace McCourty at free safety. Things will certainly look different in the secondary this season since McCourty was such a durable and dependable presence.
HALL OF FAME GAME: While Aaron Rodgers watches his first game with the New York Jets, Deshaun Watson will be on the opposite sideline.
Rodgers is sitting out Thursday night’s Hall of Fame game in Canton against the Cleveland Browns, who will also keep Watson out of the NFL’s first exhibition game of 2023.
Browns Coach Kevin Stefanski said that third-stringer Kellen Mond, who signed with Cleveland last season, will start against the Jets and that rookie Dorian Thompson-Robinson will also get some extended time.
Jets Coach Robert Saleh had already announced Rodgers wouldn’t play and reiterated that backup Zach Wilson, the 2021 No. 2 overall pick who has struggled as a pro, will start against the Browns.
TELEVISION: SpongeBob and Slimetime are coming to the Super Bowl.
The NFL and CBS Sports announced that this season’s Super Bowl will have a kids-centric presentation on Nickelodeon, marking the first time the Super Bowl has had an alternate telecast on another network.
CBS has the rights to Super Bowl 58, which will be played in Las Vegas on Feb. 11, 2024.
BRONCOS: So much for the Denver Broncos’ enviable depth at the wide receiver position.
Losing Tim Patrick to a season-ending injury for a second consecutive season and KJ Hamler to yet another health setback has thinned the number of veteran targets at Russell Wilson’s disposal two weeks before they even play a preseason game.
Coach Sean Payton confirmed that Patrick will miss the entire 2023 season after tearing his left Achilles tendon in a noncontact drill a day earlier – and just two days shy of the one-year anniversary of his right ACL tear that sidelined him in 2022.
Hours after Patrick’s injury, Hamler was waived with a non-football injury designation after he was diagnosed with a heart condition while he was working his way back from a torn pectoral muscle in the offseason.
RAIDERS: Wide receiver Hunter Renfrow spent the two previous offseasons in Las Vegas. However after last season he decided he needed to take a trip to clear his mind.
He drove his truck cross country back to his home state of South Carolina, determined to come back strong after his most difficult season since being selected in the fifth round of the 2019 draft.
“I’ve always gone by two things of the way I measure my success in the season – not letting my teammates down and being the reason why we win games,” Renfrow said. “I feel like I didn’t do a very good job with either one of those last year, and that’s why I didn’t have the most fun.”
There were a number of factors of why Renfrow went from catching 103 passes for 1,038 yards and nine touchdowns in 2021 to finishing last season with 36 catches for 330 yards and two touchdowns. A concussion early in the season and an oblique injury later in the season were among them.
Renfrow didn’t appear to be a fit in then-first year coach Josh McDaniels’ system, going from nine starts the year before to just one last season. That prompted speculation about whether the Raiders, who have a crowded and talented wide receivers room, would be willing to trade Renfrow.
JETS: Nathaniel Hackett isn’t expecting a phone call from an apologetic Sean Payton any time soon.
The New York Jets offensive coordinator was disappointed by disparaging comments made by the Denver coach last week in a story published by USA Today in which he called Hackett’s 15-game stint with the Broncos last season ”one of the worst coaching jobs in the history of the NFL.”
Hackett, hired by the Jets during the offseason, said Payton – without ever mentioning him by name – broke an unwritten code among coaches with his public criticism.
“Before we get started, I just want to say something real quick,” Hackett said Tuesday to open his first news conference of training camp. “Obviously, last week has been a very unique week, I think, for this organization. And, I’ve been involved in this business my whole life, 43 years. And as a coach, as a coach’s kid, we live in a glass house. We know that. We all live in different rooms. We’ve all got a key for it.
“And it’s one of those things that there’s a code, there’s a way things are done in that house. And, you know, this past week, it’s frustrating and it sucks, but we’re all susceptible to it.”
Payton, who’s back on the sideline after a yearlong sabbatical, criticized the work Hackett and his staff did during Denver’s 5-12 season, saying there were “20 dirty hands” around Russell Wilson’s career-worst year.
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