Despite playing for other teams during his 13-year career, retired former Tennessee Titans defensive back Jason McCourty says his true home is where it all started: in Tennessee.
McCourty was a sixth-round pick of the Titans back in 2009, and he spent eight seasons with the team before moving on to play for the Cleveland Browns, New England Patriots and Miami Dolphins in the years that followed.
And, while McCourty suffered through a lot of losing in Nashville and won a Super Bowl in New England, he still considers the former his home, as he told MMQB’s Albert Breer.
“As any kid can imagine, you have a sibling that’s close in age, let alone an identical twin, and you got to play together and win the Super Bowl together like that. That’s a storybook ending,” he said. “So that was the most fun. But Tennessee is home. If somebody asked me, I’m a Titan. Tennessee was eight seasons, had to endure a lot of losing but felt like we were putting bricks in that building. I got married in Tennessee, had all three of my kids, so that’s home. But Tennessee and New England, those are the two places for me. One was home. One was the most fun I’ve had playing football.”
During his time in Nashville, McCourty, who was a class act the entire way even though he never made the playoffs, ascended from a late-round draft pick to a valuable starter who was as consistent as they come.
He credits two former Titans for helping him get to that point.
“Cortland Finnegan and Chris Hope were my two guys when I got there to Tennessee,” he said. “I probably wouldn’t have made it 13 years without those two guys. I remember having a conversation with Cortland Finnegan when he was done. He was a seventh-round draft pick out of Samford, and I remember him saying like, ‘I can never say anything bad about my career.’ He was just like, ‘I far exceeded any expectation I could have set forth for myself when I first was drafted.’ So for me, sixth round, I thought I’d be an O.K. gunner in the NFL for a season or two. And I far exceeded that.”
When he breaks it all down, it’s easy to see why McCourty has such an affinity for the Titans, and he’ll be remembered by fans as fondly as he remembers his time in Nashville.