Around The NFL's Chris Wesseling listed New England's crop of cornerbacks among the worst defensive position groups league-wide.
Waving goodbye to their top three cover men from last season -- Darrelle Revis, Brandon Browner and Kyle Arrington -- the Patriots now turn to Logan Ryan, Eagles castoff Bradley Fletcher and undrafted Super Bowl hero Malcolm Butler.
The mass exodus has led to speculation that coach Bill Belichick might move Devin McCourty back to cornerback, where he played for two-plus campaigns before shifting over to safety three seasons ago.
"It's up to the coaches," McCourty said this week, per The Boston Globe. "I want to play safety, but it's out of my control, so whatever the coaches decide is what it will have to be."
Asked again if a position switch had been discussed, McCourty said: "You've got to ask the coaches about that. I'm not in the staff meetings."
We don't expect Belichick to relocate McCourty, which would only create another hole for the team to fill before September. Injuries could change that, but McCourty was seen playing at safety during the start of OTAs, per the Boston Herald.
One potential solution is a hybrid safety-corner position, with McCourty telling The Globe: "Whether you want to call it a safety playing a linebacker role, a corner playing a safety role or a safety playing a corner, depending on a match-up or how we want to play a team, yeah, all that can happen."
Revis, especially, allowed Belichick to get freaky with his secondary last season. The Patriots don't have that luxury in 2015, but we trust New England's coaching staff to get the best out of their young players. No team has done a better job of that in recent years, so pushing the panic button is premature.
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