Pay the Man: Devin McCourty

It's been a strange four years to start Devin McCourty's career.

A surprise first-round pick in 2010, McCourty exceeded everyone's wildest expectations as a rookie. The cornerback intercepted seven passes and defended 17 others, earning a Pro Bowl berth and berths on the All Pro first team (Sporting News) and second team (AP). However, McCourty struggled through a sophomore slump in 2011, leading many to question whether his excellent rookie year was just a flash in the pan.

McCourty's Patriots career took another strange turn midway through the 2012 season when the Patriots traded for corner Aqib Talib. The addition of Talib, a legitimate #1 corner, allowed the team to move McCourty to free safety, where his heady play helped to shore up a previously leaky secondary. 2013 was McCourty's first full season at safety and the four year vet blossomed in the role. McCourty's traditional stats (69 tackles, 2 forced fumbles, 1 interception, 9 passes defensed) didn't do his performance justice, but McCourty's consistent and fundamentally strong play earned him a lot of respect around the league, including the highest cumulative grade for a safety in 2013 from Profootballfocus.

Now, McCourty finds himself entering the final year of his rookie contract. He does so with a big raise; playing 80% of the defensive snaps his first four seasons pushed his 2014 base salary up from $920,000 to $3.9 million. Finally, he does so in a critical offseason for his team, with the Patriots strapped for cap space but needing to make some moves.

Given the circumstances, a contract extension for McCourty makes an awful lot of sense. From the player's perspective, signing a contract now will bring him a new level of long-term security in the form of immediate guaranteed money. McCourty could opt to simply play out the final year of his contract and try to hit the open market, where he'd likely see an even bigger payday, but that would represent a major risk on his part; all it takes is one injury to ruin a player's chance at a big money deal.

McCourty will likely want the security of getting his guaranteed money now. After all, all he needs to do to see the benefits of doing so is to look across the locker room at teammate Rob Gronkowski. Gronk signed an extension during the summer of 2012, after just two seasons in the league, taking far less than what the record-setting tight end would have fetched on the open market. However, taking the guaranteed money while he could looks like an ingenious decision now for Gronkowski, who has seen his long-term value take a massive hit after undergoing six surgical procedures in the last two years.

For the Patriots, the benefits of a McCourty extension are two-fold. The first, obvious one is the prospect of keeping McCourty in New England for the forseable future. Not only has McCourty become one of the team's best and most consistent defenders, but the Rutgers product has also blossomed into a leadership role in the locker room. The respect he commands from his teammates was evident this past season, as he was voted a captain to fill the void of the injured Vince Wilfork and Jerod Mayo.

Keeping their star safety in town could also, improbably, save the Patriots a little cap space for this offseason. The massive playing time escalators to McCourty's contract push his 2014 cap hit to $5.1 million. A long term extension would enable to the Patriots to spread their payments to McCourty out throughout multiple years, lowering his 2014 hit in the process. This could be crucial for a Patriots team that needs to make cost cutting moves just to afford it's own key free agents.

While the cap savings give the team extra incentive to get something done, signing McCourty should be a major priority this offseason regardless of the cap. In four years, McCourty has established himself as an irreplaceable player for the team going forward. His combination of durability, leadership, smarts and talent simply doesn't come around often, and he figures to improve even more as he gains more experience playing safety. The Patriots would be foolish to risk letting him hit the open market next offseason. Pay the man.