Patriots captain Devin McCourty offers timeline for retirement decision

Matthew Slater is coming back to Foxborough for another season. So will his partner-in-captainship since 2010 be joining him?

On The Patriots Report podcast with Chris Price, Devin McCourty said he’s still weighing retirement and outlined a timeline for when his decision will be made, one way or another.

“I’ve gone back and forth,” McCourty said. “I think the good thing is I actually have a vacation coming up with the family, and then I’m going to go hang out with (Jason McCourty) for a week. I think just being able to get away from football, especially as you kind of get older, I think it helps you put things in perspective: Doing other things. So getting away with my family and J’s family, and then I’m going to do Good Morning Football for a week. Just having fun with him, talking ball and doing what we’ve done since (we were) kids.”

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McCourty said the final decision will likely come after he finishes that stint on NFL Network.

“It’ll be early March, second week in March, and we’ll start to — I think for me and my wife — decide and plan what the next year looks like,” McCourty said. “I think that’s around the time where free agency will be coming up, so it’ll be the right time to really start digging in and make a decision.”

McCourty first began saying he was contemplating retirement after winning the Super Bowl in 2018 alongside his twin brother. Each of the last four seasons he’s returned and he’s still playing at a high level. For the seventh straight year, McCourty started every single game at safety, finishing the 2022 season with four interceptions and 71 tackles.

“My wife always jokes with me, because this is probably the first year that I’ve actually thought about it,” McCourty said. “Usually I say that. I would say over the last two or three years… as soon as the offseason hits, I’ve gone right back into working out and doing what I’ve always done to get ready for the season.

“(Playing football is) something I’ve been doing since I was 10 years old, so the thought of not getting ready to go, the thought of not playing in the game, even though you think about it, I don’t think it ever becomes real until you do it.”

McCourty turns 36 in August. With three Super Bowl rings and three All-Pro nods, the safety has been the face of durability in New England and has little — if anything — left to prove. When he peers into the proverbial crystal ball, he sees two paths.

“I look forward to next year and I see me doing different things,” McCourty said. “I also see me playing. I think that’s the really hard thing about trying to decide what’s best for you and your family.”