Pats Pulpit Reacts: Patriots fans believe Devin McCourty will return in 2023

One of the biggest questions for the New England Patriots this offseason is whether or not long-time team captain Devin McCourty will continue his career.

McCourty will turn 36 in August, is a three-time Super Bowl winner, and has missed just five of a possible 234 games over the course of his 13-year career. Considering all of that, his retirement would not come as a surprise.

So far, however, no decision has been made.

“I’m still figuring it out. I’ve gone back and forth,” he said while co-hosting NFL Network’s Good Morning Football earlier this week. “Very hard to make this decision. I actually thought it would be easy during the year. I was like, ‘Yeah, I’ll decide that — take a little time and I’ll just decide.’ But each time I think I know what I want to do, it gets a little cloudy.”

McCourty entered the offseason as one of two veteran leaders potentially heading into retirement. The other, special teams ace Matthew Slater, recently announced that he would be back with the Patriots for another season.

McCourty’s future is not tied directly to Slater’s, butt a majority of Patriots fans still believes that the two will ultimately end up taking the field alongside each other in 2023: a look at the latest SB Nation Reacts survey shows that 63 percent of participants believe McCourty will continue his career for another season.

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McCourty coming back would be good news for New England. While most certainly on the back-nine of his career, he is still playing good football and a cornerstone of the team’s defense.

As always, we also asked the community to share its thoughts. Here are some of the comments:

kwizzer:

McCourty will not be back. Then again, I said the same thing about Slater, so you might not want to listen to me.

JaylenBrownORjustJB:

If McCourty is health, he will return so yes, he will return

Joe T8:

36 years old in August. Might have to come out with the McCourty Method if he plays well. I don’t think he’s back, what’s the point, dude has 3 rings and has gone to like 4 SBs at least. Just was on teams that missed the playoffs 2/3 times after never missing in his career ever?

KissBillsRings:

DM is probably coming back… if he’s taking time off to figure it out, odds are that he’s thinking more yes than no….am I thrilled, no, but I’m not overly disappointed either….I’d just like to see the pats go more in a youth movement & get their younger guys more game playing time…DM is a leader & very good at his role on the team so there is a lot to be said for that as well…. So, I’m good either way & wish him the very best on whichever way he decides to play it…

Go Pats!!!

For Pats Sake:

I want Devin McCourty to train up a young Safety that Patriots decide to Draft.

Brian Branch, Jordan Battle, Christopher Smith, Antonio Johnson, Brandon Joseph, or Trey Dean III.

QueenofthePhoneAge:

I hope McCourty comes back for one more year. I think he deserves to go out better than last year and I suspect he’s also a big part of training not just the safeties but the cornerbacks. He can still play, too, as long as they manage his minutes decently. I want him to retire on an up year. It would break my heart if BB and Patricia ended his career this way.

stevethumb:

McCourty has been one of my favorite players for over a decade...quality play, quality person...

BUT I hope he doesn’t come back and becomes an end of the line Willie Mays or a sad Ali or any number of athletes who played one year too long...

I don’t want to see Devin stumbling around, arriving steps too late, and dropping passes that hit him in his hands...and we saw that last season

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