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Jason McCourty – July 28, 2021 Download PDF version

Wednesday, July 28, 2021

DB Jason McCourty

(First impressions with a new team, new facility? What did you think Day 1 overall?) – “It’s hot. I’m still catching my breath. (laughter) It’s weird, I started my career in Tennessee and it was really hot there. Then the last four years, Cleveland and a combination of New England – it’s just different. You prepare all summer. You come out here – the heat, the sun is different – but I’m loving it here. I just think it’s a great environment. I’m getting to know my teammates better and better each day. It’s exciting. Obviously the new building is first-class. You walk in that place, there’s glass everywhere, state-of-the-art, all the new gadgets and stuff you want to have. They’ve done everything first-class, so I’m just excited to be a part of something bigger than myself.”

(Is your expectation that you’ll play more safety than corner at this point for you?) – “It’s kind of just go and see. Wherever they put me at on any given day, I’ll put my best foot forward at whatever role that is whether it’s corner, whether it’s safety, whether it’s special teams. I doubt they’ll let me get a role on offense; but wherever they put me, I’m more than willing to go out there and do my best at it. (laughter)”

(And you’re able to do so many things. Your comfort level with safety? Obviously having played that a lot less than corner in your career.) – “Obviously out here in training camp, getting reps at different things will build comfort, build confidence; but from a knowledge standpoint, I feel very comfortable kind of with just the defense in total of being able to not only execute my role, but be able to help guys whether that’s out on the field, whether that’s in the locker room talking about a given formation, a certain defense. I feel comfortable of having experience since I’ve been here and also having experience in the past with both ‘Flo’ (Brian Flores) and (Josh) Boyer.”

(And one last thing, you’ve started a lot in your career obviously. Would starting be important to you? Obviously there’s a safety job open with a very talented rookie, but you’re intensely in that mix. Is that important to you?) – “I think what’s important is coming out here and competing. I think at the end of the day, I’ll leave that up to ‘Flo’ and Boyer and ‘G.A.’ (Gerald Alexander) and those guys to put in whoever they feel is the best man to fill whatever role that is. If that’s myself, I’ll go out there and give everything to make the team better when I can. If that’s not me, I’ll do everything for whatever role that is. So I think for me, I’ve started a lot, so obviously you get accustomed to that; but at the same time, when you’re going on your 13th year and you’ve been able to kind of start from the sixth round all the way up, you know not to take anything for granted and be very grateful and appreciative to whatever it is just to continue to be in the league at the age of soon-to-be 34 in a little while.”

(With CB Xavien Howard having requested a trade last night, I’m curious, what were the interactions like for you and your defensive backs teammates with him today?) – “For me, it was exciting. I’ve never met ‘X’ (Xavien Howard), so this was the first time between yesterday and today of getting a chance to laugh with him, joke with him in meetings and get a chance to know him. So for me, that’s the most important part. Obviously from the outside looking in, I know how good of a player he is having to go against him in the division and obviously the man had double-digit turnovers last year, so you know how special he is as a player and how much better he makes not only the defense, but the team in total. When it comes to his contract, I think that’s personal. Those things have to be dealt with between him and the team. It’s not for any player or anybody else kind of to butt in. You respect the fact that it is a business and he has to take care of himself and his family and you just wait for all of those things to get figured out. But for me, I think – and the rest of the guys – you just get comfortable and you get happy about having a really good player next to you and having him here in the building and meetings because when he’s out there on the field, it’s going to make us a better team.”

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