The Patriots have been busy shuffling up their defensive backfield lately. Corners have moved from the outside to the inside and back, and safeties have lined up in a multitude of spots.
Devin McCourty, for example, has at times has lined up in the secondary simultaneously with safeties Duron Harmon and Patrick Chung. On Thursday, according to our Mike Giardi, McCourty was seeing working in positional drills with players like Malcolm Butler, Logan Ryan, Robert McClain and Tarell Brown. Then, in team drills, McCourty was often seen on the outside.
Patriots coach Bill Belichick was asked before Thursday's practice what he's seen from McCourty during training camp. He chose to highlight the sixth-year pro's ability to adapt to different positions.
"Devin's been out here every day," Belichick said. "He's worked hard. He gives us a lot of leadership and a lot of versatility on our defense. He's done a good job, and we try to get a lot of players different . . . work them in different roles so when we eventually get to those during the season that they'll at least have some background in it."
McCourty signed a five-year, $47.5 million contract in the offseason, making him the highest-paid safety in the NFL. He does, however, have plenty of background at the cornerback position.
Through his first two seasons and parts of his third, McCourty manned one of the team's outside spots, making the Pro Bowl as a rookie. In 2013 he began the season at the back end of the Patriots secondary and thrived, being named a Second-Team All-Pro for his performance. Then, last season, he further established himself as one of the best in the league at his position while working alongside Chung and corners Darrelle Revis and Brandon Browner.
At this point, Butler appears to have a firm grip on one of the team's two starting outside cornerback jobs, but the other remains very much up for grabs. Veteran free-agent acquisition Bradley Fletcher, Ryan, Brown, McClain and seventh-round draft selection Darryl Roberts have all had their cracks at the gig with varying degrees of success.
New England Patriots
Belichick's tinkering in the secondary has perhaps increased the level of competition for that No. 2 corner spot, but this isn't the first time he has swapped players in and out of different roles in his secondary. Just last year, in fact, when it seemed unclear during training camp who would line up next to McCourty as the team's second safety, slot corner Kyle Arrington received repetitions in that role.
As Belichick explained it, giving players a variety of different experiences in camp helps them prepare for situations that may arise over the course of a given year.
Just how quickly into the 2015 season McCourty takes the field with two other safeties, if it occurs at all, remains to be seen.