Former Miami Dolphins defensive back Jason McCourty called it a career nearly two weeks ago, and he’s already begun the next phase of his life, working on NFL Network’s “Good Morning Football.”
McCourty announced his retirement after 13 seasons in the NFL that included a Super Bowl victory with the New England Patriots. However, the last season of his career was spent with Miami, and, according to Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer, if McCourty were to have played again in 2022, the aqua and orange would’ve been the only colors for him.
“If he’d come back, it would’ve only been with the Dolphins,” Breer wrote in his Monday Morning Quarterback column this week. “He and his wife had discussed it, and the fact that the defensive staff in Miami survived Brian Flores’s firing in January did make it enticing—McCourty loved playing for those guys. And to keep the door ajar, he and new head coach Mike McDaniel met and kept a dialogue going. In the end, he decided grinding through the first year back off surgery was too much, but that doesn’t mean the chance to stay with the Dolphins wasn’t worth considering.”
McCourty remembers his time in Miami fondly and is genuinely happy about the direction of the team.
“I’m excited for him and those guys down there in Miami,” he said. “I will say, going down there for my last year, some of the best people in football I was able to meet. Obviously, the guys in the locker room, but just everybody within that organization. I was very fortunate to be able to spend my last year down there.”
There aren’t many better people in the NFL than McCourty, and it was a great opportunity for Jevon Holland and Brandon Jones, Miami’s young safety duo, to learn from him in his final year.
He’ll still be great to watch on “Good Morning Football.”