The New England Patriots have an interesting and potentially damning situation on their hands.
Half of their starting secondary from last season's Super Bowl-winning squad, as it stands right now, could very well end up playing in new NFL zip codes next year.
The Pats and head coach Bill Belichick chose not to slap free safety Devin McCourty with the franchise tag yesterday, deciding instead to give the tag to kicker Stephen Gostkowski.
Six time All-Pro cornerback Darrelle Revis is slated to become a free agent on March 9 should New England fail to exercise the $20 million option in his contract.
Does this mean that both Revis and McCourty - the two strongest components of the Pats defensive backfield - are destined for new NFL homes?
Not so fast, says Ben Volin of The Boston Globe.
"With Revis, there's still a whole week to work something out. Revis's option kicks in on the first day of the new league year, which is March 10 at 4 p.m. A week is plenty of time for the Patriots and Revis to pound out a new deal," writes Volin.
The Pats don't have a ready replacement for Revis on the roster - then again, there's really no such thing as a ready replacement for a player of his caliber - but even considering the possibility of the team nabbing one of the top names slated to be available in free agency, Revis is far and away the best option: just not at upwards of $20 million for a single season.
As for McCourty, there's really no suitable heir at his spot either. He's young - he's approaching his 28th birthday - and was ranked by ProFootballFocus.com as a top-ten NFL safety last season.
"...as with Revis, there is no Plan B if the Patriots lose McCourty. Duron Harmon, Tavon Wilson, and Patrick Chung are nice players, but they can't play center field and line up the defense like McCourty can. The top free agent safeties - Rahim Moore, Tyvon Branch, and Antrel Rolle - are not suitable replacements, either."
As Volin notes, the Patriots are essentially "playing hardball" with both Revis and McCourty at the moment, but there's just no conceivable way Belichick lets two of the top performers on his NFL Championship defense simply walk away this offseason.
