Devin McCourty has the freedom to speak his mind in retirement, and he's taking full advantage.
The former New England Patriots safety joined ex-teammate and current Pats special teamer Matthew Slater at TD Garden on Thursday night to take in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals between the Boston Celtics and Miami Heat.
McCourty has plenty of free time to attend Celtics games in retirement -- but what about Slater, who's gearing up for his 16th NFL season? McCourty cracked a savage joke about Slater's schedule opening up the morning after the Celtics' 110-97 victory.
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Slater has a few "extra days off" thanks to the NFL's punishment of the Patriots, who were forced to forfeit two days of organized team activities -- one on Thursday and another on Tuesday, May 30, per our Phil Perry -- after violating the league's offseason rules.
According to reports, the violation involved Slater's special teams group: Special teams coach Joe Judge reportedly held "voluntary" early-morning special teams meetings for offensive and defensive players that were deemed mandatory by an NFL Players' Association representative after the meetings appeared on New England's internal schedule. The meetings meant players were at the team's facility for longer than the maximum allotment of four hours, hence the violation.
New England Patriots
The Patriots opened themselves up for plenty of criticism with this violation, but it was still eye-opening to see McCourty pile on. Then again, maybe McCourty believes this isn't a big deal in the grand scheme of things, which is why he was comfortable joking about it.
McCourty will join NBC's "Football Night in America" crew as an analyst for the 2023 NFL season, so expect to see plenty more of unfiltered D-Mac going forward.