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Nov 05, 2023

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New England Patriots defensive back Jabrill Peppers performs drills during an NFL football practice, Tuesday, June 13, 2023, in Foxborough, Mass. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)AP FOXBOROUGH - Six days into

New England Patriots defensive back Jabrill Peppers performs drills during an NFL football practice, Tuesday, June 13, 2023, in Foxborough, Mass. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)AP

FOXBOROUGH - Six days into Patriots training camp, and free safety has a musical chairs feel to it given all the players rotating in and out of Devin McCourty’s old stomping grounds.

It’s been a revolving door of safeties from one series to the next, and sometimes one play to the next.

Jabrill Peppers has been a fixture in the spot of late, as he’s seen the most time. Adrian Phillips and Jalen Mills have also taken a healthy share of reps. Kyle Dugger has, too. Ditto Joshuah Bledsoe.

Depending on how Jack Jones’ court case turns out, Jonathan Jones might also wind up in the mix.

“We’re all trying to pick up the slack back there, trying to be the communicators, trying to be the voices of the defense,” Peppers said. “I think we’re all doing a pretty good job of that.”

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Phillips agreed.

“I think it’s going well,” the veteran safety said Tuesday. “It’s always going to be hard to replace Devin, and you’ll never actually be able to replace him specifically, but as a collective, as a group, we’re doing a great job.”

Then there’s rookie Marte Mapu, who has been playing linebacker with the top group, and free safety with the third unit. He’s another possibility.

If you’re looking for the future heir to McCourty, Mapu could very well wind up being groomed for the role perhaps not for this year, but down-the-road.

Even though it’s early in camp, he’s impressed everyone around him. Phillips couldn’t say enough about the Patriots’ third-round draft pick.

“What I love about him is he’s going to ask questions. And he’s going to continue to keep asking questions until he feels like he has it down pat,” Phillips said of Mapu Tuesday. “He’s not going to care if he’s asking 30 questions getting on your nerves.

“He’s going to make sure he’s got it right. I love that about him. You can tell he’s a cerebral player and that he just wants to get it right. You can tell that he loves to hit, too. So it’s going to be fun seeing him actually get out there and make some contact.”

From a mental standpoint and being a quick study, Mapu seems a lot like McCourty.

It’s just hard imagining Bill Belichick entrusting a rookie with such a vital position right off the bat. Mapu needs more time, and more development if that’s the role Belichick envisions for him in the Patriots defense down the road.

That’s why it’s been a committee, similar to the Red Sox old closer-by-committee approach. Of course, the latter didn’t exactly work over at Fenway. We’ll see if the Patriots can pull it off.

Phillips sounds confident they can get the job done as a group. He said it’s been a process, and everyone is trying to get a handle on what the job entails.

“You kind of get used to what you’re doing a lot when you’ve got a guy like Dev back there because he is the middle-field roamer,” Phillips said. “He’s going to be the guy back there no matter what. But since he isn’t back there, it’s allowed me and it’s allowed other players to be able to get comfortable in the middle of the field, seeing how plays develop, seeing what your new keys will look like. I love being back there. Honestly, I just love being on the field period. But it does feel good to be back there and show some range and just have some fun.”

Ideally, the Patriots should be aiming to have one guy lock down the job, and be the chief communicator in the defensive backfield, as McCourty was during the past decade and more.

When it comes to the Patriots, and defense, however, standard isn’t always the norm. In the early going, at least, there’s quite a few cooks in that kitchen. And several of those cooks have already picked off passes with Dugger having two, Bledsoe and Mills having one. So the rotation has worked against all of the Patriots quarterbacks.

Phillips doesn’t think there’s anything wrong with having more than one safety adopt the McCourty role. He believes using multiple players can still be effective.

“I definitely do think it can work,” said Phillips. “The great thing with Dev, even though he was the quarterback, and he understood how things were supposed to look, and what checks we were supposed to make, he still allowed me to make checks myself . . . so with that, we just passed that along between me, Dug, (Dugger) and JMills . . . if we all work together, if we’re all humble with each other, it’s going to be good.”

To that end, you might see one player in the deep part of the field when there’s more field to work with, and another in the McCourty role when the opposing team hits the red zone. So they’ll switch off, trying to utilize the strengths of each, depending on the situation.

Phillips wouldn’t bite on that theory, but didn’t dismiss the possibility, either.

“There’s definitely some tactics in there where it would be better for some players to make the check than other players,” he said, “but I don’t want to say it’s based on the field position.”

Needless to say, it’ll be interesting to see how it all shakes out.

Replacing McCourty is tough not only because of his intelligence and ability to communicate and get people in the right place, it’s also hard to replicate his speed which translated not only pedaling up and back, but from sideline to sideline. He was unique in that way.

“With Dev, his whole career he ran low 4.3 (second 40-yard dash), so he could play things a certain way,” Phillips said. “He could sit on certain routes and play it a certain way. Whereas for other guys that might not be as fast as him, you might have to be more detailed with your reads, more detailed with your pedal and where you line up or post on the field.”

Phillips, Peppers and Mills don’t have the same sideline-to-sideline quickness of McCourty in his prime. Jonathan Jones has McCourty-like speed, but he’ll likely stay at corner pending the outcome of Jack Jones court case on gun charges.

So for now, it looks a bit like musical chairs.

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