If Devin McCourty wants to follow in the footsteps of his TV analyst brother, he believes he has a few lessons to learn.
The Patriots safety joined CBS' "NFL Today" pregame show as a guest analyst Sunday with New England on a bye. While discussing the success of the Giants under head coach (and former Patriots assistant) Brian Daboll, McCourty shared a conversation he had with New York safety Xavier McKinney that reflects well on Daboll -- but not as well on former Giants head coach Joe Judge, who is now New England's quarterbacks coach.
"He's a players' guy," McCourty said of Daboll. "I actually saw Xavier McKinney, and he talked about having (Daboll) in the building -- easygoing, fun time, different from when Judge was there. And I think all of the players are enjoying it, and they’re playing hard for (Daboll) right now."
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While it probably wasn't his intent, McCourty's comments suggest the Giants weren't enjoying themselves under Judge, who was fired following the 2021 season after going 10-23 as head coach over two seasons.
Speaking to reporters Monday, McCourty expressed remorse for how his remarks may have reflected on Judge.
"I probably shouldn’t have mentioned (Judge's) name, because as soon as you mention someone’s name, I feel like the worst things are always thought about," McCourty said, via NESN.com's Zack Cox. "Like, I was just talking about two guys, two different personalities, and talking to McKinney, he just talked about -- again, whenever teams get new coaches and they’re opposite of the coach before."
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McCourty brought up the example of Brian Flores and Mike McDaniel, who both have found success coaching the Miami Dolphins with very different personalities. The veteran safety insisted that McKinney was just highlighting the differences between Judge and Daboll while not necessarily saying one approach was better than the other.
"That's what McKinney was talking about, and again, I learned a lesson," McCourty said. "I probably shouldn’t have mentioned a former coach and a guy that’s here, because now I’m sure headlines are running wild with what I said or didn’t say that came across in a certain way."
McCourty's comments did raise a few eyebrows, especially since the Giants' 7-2 record suggests that Daboll's approach is working much better than Judge's in New York. But if Judge took any issue with McCourty's remarks -- or even saw them at all -- we're sure the two have addressed it behind the scenes.