Jason McCourty – August 24, 2021
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Tuesday, August 24, 2021
S Jason McCourty
(Opening Statement) – “Before we start, it’s just National Food Allergy Awareness Day and right now I think you guys are probably aware that the Miami Dolphins, we have partnered with FARE, an organization that has done a ton of work for food allergies. For me, a father of a young daughter who has severe food allergies, I mean if you name it, she’s allergic to it. It’s something that’s very important to my wife and myself. FARE will be serving food down at the stadium and it’s something that is real important to me and it’s an awesome job that they are doing. I wanted to start it off and make everybody aware of that.”
(Has she ever had any type of reaction herself?) – “Yeah. The year we spent in Cleveland, she had butternut squash but salmon was on the plate, and at that point she wasn’t even a year old. We weren’t aware of all of her allergies. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen the movie Hitch, but Will Smith has an allergic reaction and his face blows up, and that’s what her lip looked like. I had to give her the EpiPen and bring the EMTs by. Very scary, but a learning experience at that. She’s now four and she has two siblings and all three of them are well aware of all of the things she’s allergic to. It’s kind of impressive to see how much you kids can pick up on and how much they can look after one another in the process of the youngest one growing up with allergies.”
(How much fun is it for you as someone who is a total team guy helping develop a young player like S Jevon Holland, even though the natural progression that he might be taking some playing time that you would get. You’re good about it as a team guy, but is it hard? Does it come natural for you?) – “No, it’s not hard. I would say no because I can remember the specific guys my rookie year that poured into me. Cortland Finnegan who was here, Chris Hope, Vinny Fuller, so many guys took the time to pour into me. They were all defensive backs as well and we were all competing. For me, it’s a blessing. I’m blessed to just be able here my 13th year, whether my role is prominent and I’m playing every play of the game, or if my role is 15 plays here or five plays there. Whatever it is, I’m fortunate to be out here. I think as a older player you realize that not matter if you want to help a guy or not, that’s the natural progression. A young player that can play ball, and knows what he is doing, he’s going to find his way on the field. I think what makes it easy is the type of player and the type of person Jevon is. He’s very serious about his job, he is very serious about football. He puts in a ton of work, not just physically out here, but mentally making sure he knows what to do, knowing his checks. It’s been fun kind of joking and getting to know him and helping him along on the football field.”
(Has it started with you and your brother yet, because the opener is not that far away?) – “(laughter) It’s always going between me and my brother. Our wives can attest to that in our later years, and our mom for sure in our early years. We’re always competing but we’re always rooting for one another. I know it will be a blast not only to play against him but to get to see him. We’ve been together for the last three years, so now being apart, it will be fun and probably a lot of trash talk between us two.”
(Then a picture after the game?) – “For sure, for sure. Lasting memories, so definitely we’ll do all of that good stuff after the game.”
(What a vivid memory of a game that you either played with him or against him?) – “I’ll exclude the Super Bowl but I would just say our Pop Warner days. Our games used to be on Sunday mornings and we’d wake up super early in the morning, and we’d go outside with our ball. Me and him would review and go over all of our plays, and put ourselves in positions – I could remember dreaming of being able to make it to this level. The first time we ever played against each other was the opener in 2012. Kind of going against each other, we were both captains and just being able to be on the field in those moments, realizing from those Pop Warner days that those dreams and those plays going over, that we were actually doing it at the highest level.”
(You talked a little bit earlier about the leadership aspect and being a mentor. This is such a young team and when you look at the roster, the McCourty line with the age…) – “Don’t remind me. (laughter) My birthday was the Friday we were in Chicago, and as guys came up to me, (Jaylen) Waddle came up to me ‘happy birthday J-Mac, how old are you turning?’ I was like ‘I turn 34.’ ‘Damn, 34!?’ and it’s the realization of how much older you are than the other guys. Jevon I think is 21. It’s funny, but it’s a lot of fun, and I take pride in that. Just like you said, to look down the roster and see a guy 34 and still being able to be out there and run around with these guys, I take a lot of pride in that. I take pride in my experiences in being able to share that with those guys. Not only the things I’ve done, but the stories I’ve heard over the years in the locker room.”
(Do you see yourself coaching eventually?) – “I don’t know, these guys don’t leave the building until probably midnight. I don’t know if my wife wants to put up with me playing for X amount of years, and then coaching. She taught me never say never, so we’ll see.”
