Devin McCourty knew the Patriots were in for a ‘tough season.’ Did it affect his retirement plans?

Devin McCourty He knew the Patriots wouldn’t be a playoff contender this season, but that didn’t influence his decision to retire, he said recently during an appearance on WEEI’s The Greg Hill Show.

“I definitely thought it was going to be a tough season,” McCourty said. “Overall, I just didn’t think there would be enough… So last year we started thinking we would be a contender in 2023? No. But in my overall decision, I would say no, because I was done anyway.

The Patriots are an AFC-worst 2-7 this season. They have been one of the worst teams in the entire NFL. Has McCourty considered joining another team?

“I could have easily said I don’t want to play in New England, but I could have gone and played somewhere else and maybe had a shot at winning a Super Bowl. But I think overall I was at the stage where football was done.”

“When you play a season and you’ve been on Super Bowl teams, you know, ‘Okay, this team is close,’” McCourty continued. “I’ve played on teams where we haven’t been to the Super Bowl, otherwise we might have lost, but I thought, ‘Man, we’ll get a chance next year.’ I still think this team is a few years away from being a contender again.”

While McCourty was confident things wouldn’t go smoothly for the Patriots this year, he didn’t think things would get that bad.

“I didn’t think it would be 2-7 now,” McCourty said. “But I think overall I would be 36 this year. If I’m not playing for a Super Bowl, what’s the point of putting my body through more pain? They still have a ways to go, but I think they still have the leadership under Bill to get that done in the future.