Ten nuggets on new Dolphins defensive back Jason McCourty and what Miami is getting
As part of our in-depth series on all the new Dolphins players, here’s a 10-pack of notes on what Miami is getting with new defensive back Jason McCourty:
▪ What’s appealing about McCourty is that he’s a smart, savvy veteran who has leadership skills and the versatility to play free safety (if Jevon Holland isn’t deemed ready) or fill in for Xavien Howard or Byron Jones if either cornerback misses any time.
Last year, he started 11 games and played mostly cornerback but also some safety.
The concerning news: Quarterbacks had a 135.0 passer rating against him last season, which ranked McCourty 205th of 224 cornerbacks, per Pro Football Focus.
Opposing quarterbacks completed 21 of 33 passes for 319 yards (a 15.2 average) in his coverage area in 2020, with four touchdowns and no interceptions. That 15.2 average against was eighth worst among all cornerbacks who yielded at least 20 receptions.
But here’s the good news: In 2019, McCourty permitted just a 63.3 passer rating in his coverage area, 24th best in the league. That season, he allowed 28 of 49 passes in his coverage area to be caught for 260 yards (just a 9.3 average) with one interception and no touchdowns allowed. That’s good.
At 33, the hope is McCourty can return to 2019 form. We should know if he can by October.
▪ Most of McCourty’s work came at cornerback last season. He played 46 snaps at free safety and 29 at strong safety and wasn’t targeted in coverage during those snaps. But Dolphins coach Brian Flores knows he can handle the job if needed.
Flores suggested he could end up at safety — perhaps as a safety net if Holland isn’t ready to start — but defensive backs coach Gerald Alexander indicated this week McCourty would serve a multipronged role.
“For Jason, he’s got a lot of experience in this system,” Alexander said. “Ideally, we’d like him to be as versatile as he has been in his experience. Whether it be playing at the perimeter corner or in the slot or as a safety, he’s got the versatility to do a lot. So he’s going to get a lot of the information and really just try to be an X out there on the field where we can kind of put him wherever.
“Getting Jason, getting his versatility, getting his experience, getting his veteran leadership, that’s going to be some of the things that really don’t show up on the stat sheet on how he could impact the group. That’s going to be beneficial for us and I think that was the idea going into it to get him a part of our squad.”
▪ If Holland seizes the free safety job held last season by Bobby McCain, then McCourty could end up competing with Noah Igbinoghene for the No. 3 cornerback job.
Igbinoghene improved after a poor start but joined McCourty as one of only nine cornerbacks with a passer rating against of more than 133 last season. (A perfect passer rating is 158.3.)
Three of those nine cornerbacks now play for the Dolphins: McCourty, Igbinoghene (133.9 passer rating against last season) and Justin Coleman (134 passer rating against, for Detroit).
But Coleman has a strong body of work before last year, and Igbinoghene played well when needed after a rocky start.
▪ Here’s what coach Bill Belichick said about McCourty in 2018, during his first season with the Patriots:
“He plays multiple spots on the defense, so he really has moved around more than any other player in our secondary over the 10 games we’ve played. But even at corner, he’s played inside, he’s played outside unlike really any other player we have. He played safety.
“He’s a smart guy, a versatile player. He’s been very dependable and tough and durable… He’s had a lot of responsibility that kind of [Pat] Chung or [twin brother Devin] McCourty have had. At corner, he’s kind of taken the brunt of that.”
▪ McCourty was voted a captain by Patriots teammates last season, a testament to the respect he commands. Flores can trust that he will help mentor Holland, Brandon Jones and Igbinoghene, among others.
“As an older player now, I really look forward and love being able to mentor the younger guys, and be there to kind of help them grow, as well as going out there competing and trying to win games,” McCourty told NFL Network earlier this spring. “This will be Year 13, so each year you’re closer to the end. This could be it. I’m just excited to get somewhere and play football.”
▪ In the one season with Flores serving as the de facto defensive coordinator for the Patriots (2018), McCourty served as the defensive playcaller and started in 15 games (including the postseason), a season ending in New England’s sixth Super Bowl victory.
Flores played him 933 snaps on defense, his most since 2014, and he posted his best Pro Football Focus grade since 2012.
In that year with Flores, McCourty earned the 11th-highest coverage grade (80.0) and the seventh-highest tackle grade (81.6) at his position and was ranked 11th overall among all cornerbacks. McCourty had a 95.3 passer rating in his coverage area that season, ranking 97th of 202 cornerbacks.
▪ McCourty — who played with his twin brother Devin in New England the past three seasons after spending his first eight seasons in Tennessee and one with Cleveland — offered a heartfelt farewell to Patriots fans on Twitter.
“Don’t cry because it’s over; smile because it happened,” the brothers said from their joint Twitter account.
“Thank you to RKK [Robert Kraft] and Coach Belichick for giving me a chance to wear the Patriots uniform,” McCourty wrote. “For the past three seasons, I’ve gotten a chance to live out a childhood dream, playing alongside my brother while winning a championship and building lifelong friendships. Thank you to everyone within the New England Patriots organization.”
McCourty hasn’t had a Zoom session with South Florida media yet but appeared in a Dolphins Twitter video declaring “I’m ready to go work. I’m ready to hydrate and get ready for this heat. Let’s go, fellas. Fins Up!”
▪ McCourty was one of the most outspoken players on the COVID-19 issue last season, questioning whether the NFL and NFLPA make player safety a top priority.
“Throughout all of this, [it has been] the realization that it’s not a leaguewide thing — it’s kind of a team thing,” McCourty said. “The people that don’t have to walk in our building, whether it’s the league office, whether it’s the NFLPA — they don’t care.
“For them, it’s not about what’s in our best interest or our health and safety. It’s about what can we make protocol-wise that sounds good, looks good and how can we go out there and play games.”
▪ According to a league source, the Dolphins are paying McCourty the veteran minimum base salary of $850,000 in a one-year deal, but it’s fully guaranteed. He also received a $137,500 signing bonus.
▪ Odds and ends: McCourty is still a very good run defender. PFF rated him 42nd of 227 cornerbacks in that regard last season… McCourty has forced nine fumbles in his 12-year career and has five fumble recoveries…. He has one touchdown on his 18 career interceptions, achieved in 2017 with Cleveland…. New England had him rush the passer only five times all of last season, on blitzes. He has just one sack in his career, in 2011.
Here are some of my other stories on new veteran Dolphins players, including some of the other newcomers on offense here and defense here and D.J. Fluker here.
This story was originally published May 27, 2021 at 4:32 PM.
