Sam Acho Intro: Yeah.
Sam Acho: Welcome back to the Sam Acho podcast featuring
Cliff Marshall, AKA Cliff Notes.
And today we have a special guest, uh, Devin MCC accordion.
I'm not gonna do the intro 'cause Cliff actually has a better, and
maybe let's say a different kind of relationship with Devin and I,
uh, than a lot of y'all know about.
And so, cliff, I'm gonna let you introduce our special guest.
Clif Marshall: Well, Devin McCordy is with us today.
And Devin, it's a special day because you're actually our first
guest ever on the Sam Macho podcast.
And, uh, we can't thank you enough for your time.
As Sam mentioned, uh, you and I go way back.
We have a great relationship and we'll get into that in just a moment.
But really, uh, I want to introduce Devin.
Devin was a first round draft pick out of Rutgers.
He was a 13 year NFL player, team captain with the same team all
13 years in New England Patriots.
And, uh, he won three Super Bowls with them.
You see the Lombardi trophies behind him.
So, uh, man, uh, three Super Bowls was an NFL Pro Bowler.
But more importantly, we talk on this show a lot about our identity.
A lot of times our identity gets caught up in football or
whatever sport you're playing.
Most important thing to know about Devin is that first and
foremost, he's a follower of Christ.
Secondly, he's a great husband and thirties, even a better father.
So Devin, thank you so much for your time, brother.
It's a joy to have you on today.
Devin McCourty: Man, I, I appreciate that intro and, uh, I, I think it's
awesome to be here because, uh, like you just mentioned, when you talk about
identity and, and coming outta Rutgers and then going into the draft and all
of the in between of the training, uh, the thing that always stuck out to me as
I was pursuing like my lifelong dream.
Was every Wednesday we had Bible study and that was huge for me in grounding
the next, you know, part of my life of what I would end up becoming a father
and a husband and all of those things.
But it was, and this most important time of my life professionally, of
chasing something, you still was like, Hey fellas, like it's not mandatory,
but if you want Wednesday mornings, what's our kind of recovery day?
We're gonna do a Bible study.
And I just remember being in that moment of like.
Only thinking about my L my L drill and only thinking about my five, ten five
and being like, man, like it was so good to be able to reset and like, all
right, let's remember what's important.
Let's remember that it's a blessing to just be here training and doing all of
these things that we get to do in Naples.
So, uh, I'm just, I'm very grateful and thankful and that's why
we've always stayed connected.
'cause you played a huge part in the man that I became,
in that stage in life where.
Sam, you know just like me, that's the kind of stage where you can go
either direction as you're about to walk into a whole new life that you
thought it would be one way, but it's a lot of other things involved
and, very grateful for what you did.
Clif
Clif Marshall: Wow.
Devin means the, world to me for you to say that.
And there's a Bible verse from First Timothy 4:8 It says, for physical training
is of some value, but godliness has value for all things holding promise for
the present life and the life to come.
And I think in Naples, while we were training there together.
At Ignition.
it was more about just training the mind, the body, and the spirit.
So Dev like 2010, man, we met through your agent, Andy Sims.
Um, and obviously, you know, I recruited you a little bit.
There were a ton of facilities you could have chosen just like Sam, right?
And, uh, I'm so grateful that you came to train with me at Ignition and I was
reminded this morning in my office.
I've got a brochure.
Right here with Devin McCordy on it, right?
He was the face of ignition after becoming a first round draft pick
and dominating the NFL combine.
And what makes that story so cool is the very next year.
Sam Acho became the face of Ignition.
And so, Devin, your success, right?
Training at Ignition helped me to recruit Sam Acho the following year.
And both you guys obviously did great at the combine, but just wanted to ask
you kind of what do you remember other than the Bible studies and whatnot, uh,
kind of about your training process and, and, you know, signing with an agent
and, and then going into the NFL combine.
Uh, what do you remember most about that experience?
Devin McCourty: Yeah, man.
Starting with the, the kind of agent part of it and you know, Sam, just like
me brothers and, and having a brother in the NFL and all that, us, I was a twin,
but Jay came out the year before me, so.
When Jay comes out, I think the assumption was okay, like Devin
already has an agent, he's gonna probably sign with his brother's agent.
But then my brother has, he has some success, uh, as a six round draft pick
starts three games, uh, was active for all but one game on special teams
and, and different things like that.
So my draft grade starts climbing.
I'm playing well in college and.
Uh, as I go through the process, you know, I think I might have met with
one agent or two agents that summer, and then as the season kind of went on,
more and more agents started reaching out, and then other guys, agents,
bigger agents, started reaching out.
So at the end, my mind was like, kind of in a loophole and I,
I, I threw my financial, uh, advisor right under the bus.
'cause I mentioned him to every agent.
Like, I'm about to sit back and spend some time and talk to him.
And he called me like maybe two hours later, like.
What did you, what did you say to people?
I just got, I just got like eight text messages about what I have to
do with the process, what I'm, and it was just a lot and I'm, I'm very
fortunate that my brother had went through the process, so he had got to
know some agents from other players.
So as we kind of went through it, he was just like, wait, you like that person?
nah, nah.
nah.
I was with that person when he was with this client.
He's totally different than what you're describing.
So once we went through that and got to figure that out, and like you said, going
at that time it was, it was players rep.
Now it's one of one agency, Andy Sims and, and Wesley Spencer.
Um, once I got those guys, it kind of started my circle and then, uh,
they were like, Hey, I want you to meet Cliff And again, my brother had
trained in Chicago and I'm drawing a blank on the name, but he kind of was.
Trained a little bit like how we trained in college.
They were squatting heavy, like they were doing, they weren't
doing the kind of pretty stuff that we usually see on the films.
And like he was, he was getting after it.
And when he came back he was like 1 95.
He ran like low four threes.
Like when he walked in the door after training, I was like, damn, you got
big, like was joked up, no neck.
And he was just like, and I remember talking to him the first like few weeks.
He hated it.
He was like.
Bro, I didn't think this is what we were gonna be doing.
And then started seeing the results.
So obviously being a twin, I'm like, I need to kind of,
I need to kind of do that too.
And that was a part of choosing to go.
I didn't want to go to Chicago though.
He was freezing.
I wanted to go somewhere warm.
And when Cliff was like, Hey, we're based in Cincinnati, but we're
taking a group of guys to Naples, Florida to to train for the combine.
I was like, I'm in.
And I think the coolest thing about being down there was we had our kind
of Big East reunion down there with so many different guys, sensei Pitt.
We were all down there getting after it.
And then the group that we formed, um, kind of were like all underdogs.
And I know it sounds weird, me saying that 'cause I went in the first round.
But going down there, like I just, I always felt like I had a
lot of people that didn't think that I was that type of player.
Like the only, you know, one, a offer I had was Rutgers.
So like being there at Rutgers and, and doing that and even getting
drafted in the first round, the first time I, I did the press conference,
they said, Hey, are you aware?
People are pretty angry that Bill drafted a special teams player in the first round.
So it was like this, you know, whether it was me, it was, whether
it was Brett Hamlin, prince.
Quasi, like we just had so many different guys that felt like underdogs, D two guys.
Like, uh, it was cool for me to be in that environment 'cause
we all just, we grinded and
we loved every bit of, every bit of it, giving each other pointers
when we were doing drills and stuff.
So, uh, it was a, it was a unbelievable experience.
I think I went back either two years later to talk to guys, um, that were
still doing the combine training.
So, uh, loved, loved it so much that I want to always stay connected to it.
Clif Marshall: Hmm, man.
One thing that I can remember, Devin specifically about you is you beat
me to breakfast every morning, and that says something because I'm
getting to breakfast 30 minutes early.
Right?
And you're already there and you're eating the same things, right.
Um, and you're, it's all about consistency and for our, you know, our audience.
I think a lesson, maybe a cliff note today is that I tell the athletes
that I work with, you have to treat every day as it's a job interview.
I.
Right.
And I also say treat every day.
Like it's the first day of your freshman year.
You remember first day freshman year at Rutgers.
And Sam, you remember first day freshman year at at Texas, right?
You were on time, your shirt was tucked in.
You were Yes sir.
No sir.
You looked everybody in the eye.
And what I've seen over 25 years as a strength and conditioning coach is
that goes away over the course of time because we get comfortable, right?
And the one thing Devin, I can remember about you is like, I.
You were the same guy every day, right?
You showed up with a great attitude.
You had great energy.
Humble, hardworking, and that consistency.
Man, it paid off.
And I believe that's why you ended up playing 13 years in the
NFL, became a team captain and won multiple Super Bowls, so yes.
Sam Acho: Speaking of those Super Bowls, he got three of them, but
he got some of them behind him.
Cliff, we, we started to call him like, Hey, what are those things behind?
Those are in fact Lombardi trophies.
But I'm gonna ask Cliff, you made the point about the consistency and the,
and Devin, you talked about essentially this idea of being an underdog.
The question I have, Devin, is how do you keep that humble or that consistent
mentality after achieving so much success?
Devin McCourty: I think it is, it's the realization that I've always
tried not to put success as a, a thing, a material thing of like.
Winning a Super Bowl or becoming a pro Bowler because the truth of the matter
is, like you, I won my first Super Bowl.
I had lost one the year before.
Lost in the ASC Championship.
Two years in, two years in a row after going my second year.
So it was just like this buildup was, I mean, huge.
We had coaches on staff players, they would talk about it.
And I had this conversation with Nate Solder and you win it and
you're like, oh, like that's it.
I mean like
that was great.
The parade was awesome, man.
But like as soon as we were at the parade and everybody's like, we want
five, we want like everyone wants you to win the next Super Bowl, they
want to talk about the next season.
And you were here thinking like, wait, we not gonna enjoy this
for like months on, months.
Like we're not it.
It goes fast.
So I've always tried to, and I even tell my kids like.
Success or, or whatever you want to call it.
It's about you being your absolute best in anything you do.
And I think about that of, you know, In the Bible.
Paul talks about being content, whether he's been high, whether he's been
low, of just always being content.
And I feel like I find contentment when I know I've given it my all.
I wanted to play 15 years in the NFL.
Retired after 13.
I was content at what I, what I was able to accomplish, what I was able to do.
'cause I knew at the end of the day, I didn't cheat myself.
I went all in.
I, when I was coming outta Rutgers or whatever time my second year, I struggled.
People were like, he should get cut.
They should, they moved my position.
All these things happened and I just kind of put my head down and was just
like, all right, I'll figure it out.
I'll do this.
I, whatever I have to do, I'll figure it out.
And it was the same thing once I retired.
Like that mentality doesn't leave.
I'm not somebody that sets like these hard goals of like, I
have to be here in this point.
I want, and I learned that because through life when those things happen
or different things that even for me, like when I want, I wanted to play in
the NFL I wanted to just get in the NFL I was a first round draft pick.
I didn't let that impact what I did next because honestly, that surprised me.
I didn't think I was gonna be a first round draft pick.
I had University of New Hampshire and Rutgers only offered me
because they wanted my brother.
So like I wasn't this guy walking around super confident and I
had a feeling Rutgers did that.
And then a year ago, the guy that recruited me, Darren Izzy was
with the Saints and him and my brother went to dinner and he was
like, you know when Dev called the Monday after your recruiting visit?
He was like, cheo called me and he ripped me because we got him and you didn't
commit.
And so I didn't have that.
Like I never thought of myself that way.
So because I've just been trying to focus on what was next, I didn't let the
big accomplishments, that shocked me.
I never let it get to my head and be like, Hey man, I'm good.
And if I ever did get a little over myself having a twin brother,
he would bring me right back down to Earth and we would go at it.
So very fortunate to have him, uh, a part of my success or
whatever you want to call it.
Clif Marshall: Uh, Devin, you mentioned your brother.
I wanna backtrack just a moment.
Can you explain and kind of talk about like.
Why your brother answered the phone on draft night, not you.
When Bill Belichick called your brother, picked the phone up and not you.
Devin McCourty: Man, it is crazy too because my brother
gets drafted a year before.
We're in the same house, living in the same place.
Nobody comes to the house.
We had like a few friends that had already planned to come.
Draft is on, he gets drafted the last day, nobody shows up.
The next year I get drafted, I get projected, possible
chance, end of the first round.
Next thing you know, we got people just ringing the doorbell like,
hey, and next thing I know, we got like 15, 20 people in the house.
Did not want that.
Didn't, but it was like hard to be like, nah, I gotta go.
So, you know, getting drafted in the first round is awesome, but it is long.
So I got to the point where I was like, man, I gotta just step outta
here for a second, go to the bathroom, but spending some extra time.
And the phone rings.
So as the phone rings, Jay's like.
I'm gonna answer it.
I'm gonna take it to him, but I'm gonna answer it and answers it.
And is Mr.
Kraft at first on the phone, Hey, we're drafting you.
This is Robert Kraft from the New England Patriots.
He's like, oh man, awesome.
Oh, hey, I'm gonna put Coach Belichick on.
Soon as they say him put Coach Belichick on.
He's like, yo, coach Belichick's on the phone.
Hands me the phone.
And it was hilarious because it was a, it was our, it is our relationship,
always having each other's back of.
I'm away.
No fear.
No.
Don't worry about it.
He'll answer, he'll be me.
Pass me the phone and I'll take over.
And our lives have been like that.
Like I played in high school football.
I played right away as a sophomore starting some games.
He didn't play much junior year.
He kind of has a, a run at running back where he's playing more.
Uh, he played more first in basketball.
Then we get to college.
I red shirt, he plays right away he goes, he becomes a six round draft pick.
I become a first round draft pick.
I win Super Bowl two Super Bowls.
Then he comes, he wins a Super Bowl With me, it was just.
There's always back and forth.
Even retirement.
He goes on tv, he does well on tv.
I come out the next year, I go on tv.
So, um, we've always helped each other out and just had each other's back.
Um, and we always tell people, I think, I don't think we have the success.
We don't make it to the NFL if we don't have each other.
We've always pushed each other.
We've always made each other believe in ourselves more by like
just saying like, nah, keep going.
Even when I retired, when our season ended.
He calls me, he goes, nah, nah, nah, don't retire.
You have four interceptions.
You should have had six.
Don't retire.
There's different, like there's different records you could get.
And I was like, man, I'm done.
I'm done.
But like, we always push each other, man.
It's, it is
really special relationship.
Clif Marshall: Well, I, oh, go ahead, Sam.
Sam Acho: just to hop in last week, 'cause last week, cliff and I, on episode
one, we talked about the relationship that we have as far as accountability,
keeping each other accountable.
I also have a brother, right?
That it's like we push each other, but not everybody has a physical brother.
What do you tell the people who may not have a physical
brother or a sister if they wanna achieve this version of success?
Devin McCourty: I think it's a alignment with different people in your life.
I think.
Even, you know, outside of, of having my brother, I have friends who are like
brothers to me that, uh, I can call on when they've gone through great loss.
Two of my, two of my close friends, they lost their fathers, uh, like
six months to, to a year apart.
And I remember one of my guys, he, he works for, he is a federal agent.
And I FaceTimed him that night and I was just like, man, I had to put eyes on you.
I was like, I know, I know like how close you and your father are.
Um, I was like, I just wanted to put eyes on you, not a phone call or a text
message, but to FaceTime you and see you.
Um, and I think it, it's finding those people, but it's, it's
investment and it is investing time.
It's letting people know exactly how you feel, whether it's good
or bad, um, of being there.
And I think when you find that, like I always tell my wife, my close friends.
I never understand when people are, Hey, we're not, we're just not friends anymore.
I'm like, my close friends that I've had since college, like it would take
something that I can't even think of, of why we wouldn't be friends
because we've invested so much time in each other, whether it's.
Even now, if they come over and we hang around the house, like
we don't have to go anywhere.
We might just sit at the house and be talking or have a drink
and be talking at three o'clock in the morning just catching up.
And that's what I would tell people.
If you have different people in your life that you see like, man, this
person's like a brother or like a sister.
Go all in and invest time.
Like there's no gift.
There's nothing you can give 'em other than like your time.
They have kids or they be around their family.
Be like, have that type of relationship where you are around them, where when
something's not right, they can feel it.
They talk to you so much that if you don't check in with 'em or y'all not
in a group chat and y'all not texting, they're like, Hey man, what's, hey?
What's going on?
We good over there or they're coming out to see you so it doesn't have to be blood.
I mean, I truly believe that I, you know, me and my brother are close, but I don't
believe in like, just because somebody's not family that you don't have that close
relationship or just because somebody is family that you just keep diving in.
I think it's about the relationship, what you said, Sam of.
How is that relationship?
How do we equally invest in each other?
How is this mutual, mutual where we're like, we feel the same about each other?
I think that's huge and I, I've always tried to find that in my life.
Clif Marshall: Devin, I think over the course of the last 25 years, I
have found this truth in coaching.
Results are temporary, but relationships are eternal.
And what I mean by that is the result of a 40 yard dash of vertical
jump winning a Super Bowl even.
That's all temporary, but the relationship is eternal, and that's
what makes this show today so special to have both of you guys on here
as, as I was your former coach.
But I think, uh, the locker room, right, and Sam can can talk to this as well.
You guys grew up in a locker room right from high school, college,
throughout your professional career, and obviously transitioning from that.
Into the next stage of your life.
A lot of guys struggle with that, right?
Because you don't have that comradery, so to speak, each and
every day when you show up to work.
So how are you combating that now as you're, you're transitioning
from the NFL into normal life?
Devin McCourty: Yeah, it is not easy.
And Sam, you know, too of.
As men, a lot of times, because we're in the locker room, we
don't really call each other.
We don't text all the time.
We don't FaceTime because we like, we see each other every day.
Like me and Matthew Slater are super close.
Like our wives used to be like, man, they're work
husbands, they got a bro mess.
Like we always, if something was going on, we would always be
talking to each other about it.
And we got so used to seeing each other every single day that like
when I would look through my phone, we barely have any text messages
because we always saw each other.
And then you kind of step away from that.
It's hard.
It's hard to tap back in.
It's hard to, especially, I retired, certain guys were still playing, so you're
like, oh, I know they're practicing.
Then I went into media, so I'm like, man, I don't want them to feel like
I'm reaching out to get information and all of those different things.
And then you realize like, man, you gotta like, you gotta check in on my guys.
You gotta text them.
But like when I first left.
Uh, two, I went like two months where I didn't kind of know
what I want I was gonna do next.
I knew I wanted to do media, but Sam, you know, like wanting to do media
and there being an open media job for you are two totally different things.
So you do all of these things.
So I'm gearing up, uh, my last year during a bye week.
I go and I do CBS, I do NFL today.
Then when the season first ends, NFL today, ask me to come back.
So I do that again.
NFL Network asks me to do some playoff coverage.
Fly to LA and then maybe three weeks later I fly to LA again, an interview for Fox.
So I'm like, man, I done checked every box, like somebody, anybody.
And those two months go and just nothing like you get all this
positive feedback when you go.
And then finally I got an offer from CBS Sports Network.
Um, and then I got a call from Fred Gelli at NBC and he was like, hold on.
Don't do anything yet.
Let me see.
I think we might have an opportunity.
And then football Night in America, NBC comes and that was a blessing all
in itself because they didn't have an open spot and they opened up a spot
for me and thought I would go along really well, um, with their crew.
So, and one sense.
I hit like, I'm like, man, I got a great job.
Uh, Chris Sims, who I had a relationship with, he was on the show.
I'm about to meet all these new people.
I'm about to get my new locker room.
This is gonna be great.
But the truth was like at home was the biggest struggle because you said
at Cliff 13 years, 12 time captain.
So like, I'm a captain, I, I, I run things, I do things.
I'm a captain.
Guys, listen to me.
It's awesome.
Married, going on nine years.
Been together for like 15, 16 years at home.
She's the captain.
Everybody
listens to her, and now you put both of us in a house where I'm not
working yet and I'm home all the time.
She's doing her daily schedule.
I got ideas and I'm like, eh, why you doing that?
That doesn't make sense.
We should be doing this.
This is more efficient.
She's like, we don't run off efficiency in this house.
Where you were at.
Everything's about being efficient.
So like truth of the matter is we were just starting to talk to different
people and you know, different teammates and friends were like, Hey, we are
going through different things too.
And we connected with Rod Harriston, the former chaplain for the Ravens.
He does like a marriage coaching.
And we signed up and we did that for a six month kind of marriage coaching
where we were going and meeting on Zoom.
And we were able to talk about a lot of different things from our childhoods.
That we had never talked about, and it was a lot of times it was almost like
doing individual therapy in front of each other where we didn't solve every
problem, but we got to understand why we reacted and acted in certain situations
because of how we processed things all the way back from when we were kids,
and it was eye opening for us and.
Uh, and I gotta be honest, my wife was like, we need to talk to somebody.
I was like, ah.
And I'm like the guy that, you know, I'm in my, I'm in my word.
I, I was again, the leader the guys looked to and I still was like, ah, I don't know.
But it was the best thing for our marriage that allowed me to kind of ride
off and be good off the field and in retirement, in both kind of landscapes,
not just doing TV and finding a postcard.
'cause a lot of people were coming up to me like, man.
You're killing post-career.
But at home I was like, I'm not killing that.
And that allowed me to kind of get back on par not to feel, you know,
sometimes you could feel a little bit like a fraud knowing you're out and, you
know, doing different things for work.
And my wife's at home, she's pissed at me, but I'm over here, you know,
smiling and everything's great.
So that was a huge, I think, spot for us of being able to do that and,
and live that and, and go through it and, and it, it made us better.
And you know, what I've learned in life is.
Everything's a season.
Just because you're in one season, that might not be great.
Doesn't mean that's gonna dictate the rest of your life.
It's just a season you gotta get through.
And I think it really taught us to lean on each other even more, uh, when
we're going through things like that.
So it was, it was huge for us.
I.
Sam Acho: Well, we talk a lot on this podcast about how to
win without losing at all.
We talk about faith, family, football, finances.
I want to just pinpoint on that family piece.
You've won a lot.
You've won, you know, 13 year NFL Vet, 12 time captain,
three time Super Bowl champion.
You've won a lot and you've talked about the football piece.
We've, we've dipped in on the faith piece.
I wanna go to that family piece.
How do you win at home as a husband and as a father?
Devin McCourty: I think the first thing is knowing that you want to win,
not always be right and you know, I, I think anybody that's ever talked
to someone that's been married a long time, like I remember me and Mr.
Kraft.
One time we were walking the tunnel back to the locker room and he was like,
you know, I was married since I was 21.
I was with my sweetheart forever.
He is like, I got married.
I never lived a life of like out partying.
I'm married at 21.
He's like, I'm gonna tell you this one thing.
Don't always worry about being right.
Just be happy and keep your marriage going the right way.
And that's what I've tried to do.
I've tried to win the day or win win the people in my household.
Uh, I used to tell my wife all the time, like.
One of the things I wanted to do most in life was be a husband and father is
because my father passed when I was three.
So like my whole life growing up, 'cause I was so young, I never experienced
knowing like what it meant to have a father, like to have somebody show
up at a, at a basketball game or a football game or come home and struggle
with something, uh, at school or a test or a personal relationship.
I never had somebody to give me like that male perspective of.
Hey, like I heard what your mom said, but sometimes, and give me another angle,
like I had my mom, and my mom was awesome.
She did it all, but to not have that was hard.
It, it sucked from the standpoint of I never knew what it meant to have it.
And I sometimes tell people that are going through a tough time, like if they
lose their father or different things like that of cherish the moments you
had because you're going to be able to tell stories about your father and
your kids are gonna get to know the legacy that your father left behind
through them generation to generation.
And I sometimes feel like, man, I missed that a little bit because I
have just very vague memories, but I have stories that other people tell me.
So I always try to remember that as I'm doing different things.
I'm on boards and I'm working and I'm like, alright, how can I be back?
Because my kids and like we just went on vacation and.
When I'm with my brother, a lot of people, especially like
now, it's because you do tv.
They're like, you, you guys are those twins.
And my kids are like, why are you famous?
Why do people know you?
Because like they don't know that.
Like they don't know that side.
I'm just dad and I want them to know me as just dad.
And I think that only comes by being present.
You know, I take 'em to school most of the days.
Because, you know, TV stuff, you have that flexibility.
And people ask me right now, like in the off season, like, how do you
take up your time in the off season?
I'm like, I don't do much.
I want, like, I want this time in the off season.
I want to be the kickball coach.
I want to be at the baseball and softball practices and all of that.
So, um, I, I think being present is how I try to win.
Because I'm gonna make mistakes, but as long as they know I'm there with
them, they'll always remember that.
And I think that's the key part of, of being a dad, is just showing up.
And I've tried to do that as much as I can.
Sam Acho: Mm.
Clif Marshall: Devin, I think, uh, you know, they say that the choices
we make make us, and I think what you shared just a moment ago about choosing.
To do six months of marriage counseling helped you guys in your marriage.
Right?
And I think that as athletes, right?
You and Sam both, you work your entire life, right, to become the best version
of yourself on the football field, right?
But I think as we grow as men, we also have to understand that.
The same amount of work that we put into developing our bodies, we
also have to put into our marriage.
We have to put that into being a father.
And especially we have to put that into being, uh, present
in our faith and growing.
And obviously that looks different for everybody, but I can respect you
for choosing right, that marriage counseling, uh, to help strengthen your
marriage and so much respect to you.
For that, uh, I did want to ask you a couple more questions about football.
Uh, first was just talk to me about Tom Brady, uh, playing with him for
13 years, what you learned from him and, and, and if you still stay in
touch with him, uh, to this day.
Devin McCourty: Yeah, I, I shoot him some texts every once in a while and
then on Instagram and, you know, I think especially because what we're
all doing in media now, uh, not just him, but like Edelman and Gronkowski,
uh, so many different guys are, are in this space and ran into a bunch
of them in New Orleans and like, we're catching up and we're talking.
But I always tell people of like, the coolest thing about
Tom is like, Tom's a rockstar.
And like when you're around him, you wouldn't have any idea.
Like, that's him.
You, you travel.
Like we would travel to games and there were people lined up when our
buses pulled up, people lined up in the lobby to, to like welcome us.
And I know it was him because then he left the last three years of my career.
It won't just same.
We, we, we ain't had the line though.
Like we didn't have that.
Um, but I say that because when I first got in, it was like
the kind of old off season.
Where a lot of the veterans weren't there when you first got there.
'cause they had their little break in between.
So when he got there, I remember being on the O on the field, we're doing like the
OTAs and you know, pass each other in the locker room, but didn't get time to talk.
And he comes up to me in between the smash team spirit.
Hey man, what's up?
I'm Tom.
I'm looking at him like, yeah man, I know who you are.
I know you Tom.
And he's like, man, we're so happy to have you here.
And I'm a rookie.
First round or whatever you want to call it, but from Rutgers, a
kid that Tom Brady gonna tell me, I happy to have you here, man.
I called my mom that night and was like, Brady knew who I was and.
And like that was how he would treat you.
And he would do that to different rookies, different offensive linemen that came in.
But then you had this other side of this guy that I got to sit in captives meetings
with for 10 years who could break down the game from offense, defense, special
teams, and tell us how we needed to play.
And our captives meetings, it would go one by one, everybody giving
their input and you would give your input kind of relative to.
For me, secondary defense, Vince Wilford, defensive line, front
seven Slater, special teams.
Tom would give the overall of the whole team.
It would be like having, you know, bill Belichick, your head coach, but like his
second in command would be like Brady.
And for me it was so unique sitting there, learning from him.
Different times we would talk about safeties like Ed
Reed and then Troy Palama.
He would tell me why I like Ed Reed would give him trouble with
some things and how to play things.
Um, he was just incredible, I think, as a teammate and you wouldn't expect it.
I think coming in and hearing the story sometimes about like the bigger name
guys, like he didn't have two lockers.
He had one locker.
If you wanted something signed, he said, Hey babe, put in my locker.
I'll sign it for you.
Come get it by the end of the day.
And he was sign it if he, one time he was throwing cleats away and one
of the guys Marquis Cole, he's like, Hey, what you doing with those cleats?
He was like, man, I gotta get rid of 'em.
He's like, no, no, no.
I signed those.
I'll take 'em.
He assign 'em, give them to you like whatever deal or deal he didn't like,
he didn't care about any of that.
If you were in that locker room with him, you were family.
Like we were in a group text before one of our younger players was
like, is this really Tom Brady?
He's like, Tom, you mind if I save your number?
He is like, yeah, man, and hit me up whenever you need something.
Like he was
that kind of guy that I think he made a lot of guys better.
Because for one, he was coachable.
Bill would dog him out just as much as he would dog anybody else out,
which put the rest of us in line.
'cause if you hear Tom Brady getting dogged out, you know, you
know, that means you'll get cut.
And he didn't have to be coachable when he hit a certain level in his career.
He didn't have to do that.
So I, I have a, a tremendous amount of respect for him.
Great dude, a friend, a great teammate, always was there.
Um, people made fun of him.
He was just one of the guys, and I think that's the coolest thing about him.
Clif Marshall: My last question regarding football, I have to ask
you about Coach Belichick, being at North Carolina, being in this
landscape of NIL and Transfer portal.
I've lived at the last couple years myself, um, as a college strength
and conditioning coach, but I just want your thoughts on kind of, you
know, his job now and how you think he'll do at the college level.
Devin McCourty: Yeah, I think, I think he's gonna get the guys that love ball.
I think he's gonna get more mature guys that understand that being
honest is the best thing that you can hear in this process.
I think a part of some of the reasons we see so much of
the portal and everything is.
Guys like, like you, you come and you have this dream, and you have
this thought of what it's gonna be like, and then sometimes it's not.
And then you have some of the guys that are a little more immature
who want everything their way.
They want it now, then they leave.
So I think with Belichick, you're gonna get a guy that's gonna
tell you exactly what it is.
Anytime.
Like I think whenever you talk to former guys who have played with him and now
they're removed a couple years, they look back and they say, the one thing that I
loved about Bill and respect is that he was upfront and he was honest at the time.
I might have been pissed at him and didn't want to talk to him
'cause I didn't like what he said.
'cause I didn't want to hear that as a player, as a competitor.
But now I look back and I'm like, man, he was honest with me.
Because I think we go through different things and we're like, people aren't
honest with us and we think one thing, and then you get in a situation and you're
like, man, I really would've loved for you to just tell me the truth and then
I could have made a better decision.
And I think what Bill, you're gonna get that, and I think what I've seen so far
is he's a, he's adaptable everybody.
Like his last year in the NFL, they thought he wasn't.
But I can attest to the guy that I had.
Early part of my career was not the guy at the end, like a lot of, and it was
the same way the generation before me, like those guys would come back and I'm
like, man, bill's kind of soft on y'all.
Then when I was still playing, we were getting that morning
meeting and it would be calm.
It wouldn't be low light saying, I was like, damn, Bill's changed.
And I think he's gonna be like that in college.
I can't wait.
I want to go down there and actually see it.
But I talked to his son, Steve, uh, a good amount and he even, he even was
telling me about their first ever meeting.
He was like.
Dude, he hit the same meeting from the NFL, like treating these guys like pros.
And I think that's what guys will love.
They'll love the opportunity to go and be treated like a pro, a
pro practice here in meeting rooms and all those different things.
I think that's what he's gonna give those guys.
And I get it.
Everybody won't go into the NFL, but the thing that I learned is.
The way we did things in New England was like that whole Patriot Way stuff.
It was about doing the right thing.
That was the best thing for the team.
And I think no matter what you do in life, that's going to come up,
that's gonna come up in your family.
Whether it's doing the right thing for your wife or your
kids, that's gonna come up.
Usually in business, whether you're an employee, whether you own something,
it's gonna be the same thing.
So I think those kids that go to UNC.
They're gonna see, like they're gonna learn life lessons
through football with Belichick.
And you know, I think that's gonna be a reward for those guys and.
Uh, credit to him to even want to still coach and do things because,
like we were talking about me, like you talking about accomplishments
like this, like he won't have enough.
Like this thing is going up with Lombardi's and all those different things.
He could easily just say, you know what, I'm gonna hang out with my
grandkids, visit my, my, my two boys and my daughter who are coaching.
I'll just visit and get that little coaching.
You know, feeling that I want to get when I go visit.
He doesn't have to be fully immersed in this, but he loves the game.
He loves coaching young people.
Uh, and you know, in fact last year I saw him, you know, me and my brother
went into the Rutgers Hall of Fame.
They were playing Washington.
His son Steve, was a defensive coordinator in Washington.
We're talking during the game.
I'm like, coach, you're everywhere.
Like, how's the media?
You're doing as much media that I've ever seen you do in one
year that I saw all 13 years.
And he was like, man.
It's okay.
I'm like, what do you mean you're everywhere?
He is like, and right then and there I was like, the guy loves coaching.
Like this isn't for him.
He could be given all these nuggets of what it's like to be a coach, what
it's like to be a gm, all that on tv.
He wants to just coach the guys and that's what he's doing in North Carolina.
He just loves coaching.
Clif Marshall: Hmm.
Sam Acho: We've talked about Coach Belichick and what he
loves to do in his post career.
Now getting back into coaching, what are some of the things, Devin, that you love
now that the football career has ended?
Devin McCourty: Yeah, I think first and foremost, like we talked about,
hanging with the fam, coaching my kids in different things.
Um, but I'm also, I, I think in the off season, a lot of my work
is on the boards that I'm on.
So I'm on a board, the New Commonwealth Fund, which was founded during COVID
and that was really to help different leaders, uh, in Massachusetts.
A lot of 'em were black and brown.
Who don't get the resources that they need.
They lead an organization, but people are, they're a little bit
like, ah, I don't know if they can know how to handle these funds.
So they bring them in, they workshop 'em, they give funds out.
So I'm on the board there.
I'm on the board of of Unordered, which works is started in Boston,
works with kids who are in gangs.
And it really tells 'em like, Hey, we want you to get out of the
gang and go back to school, but we also want to give you a stipend.
We want to give you money because we understand a lot of the
reasons why you're in a gang or you're doing different things.
You don't have the resources, you don't have the money.
So we want to give you a stipend because we know you're leaders and we want you
to lead people in a different direction.
So that's in Boston.
They've expanded to Kansas City.
So I've been in there, I've gone to Kansas City.
Uh, I'm on the board of, um, Boston Medical Center.
Which has been big because my family has sickle cell, so they've done a lot
of work with us in, in sickle cell and we have a 5K walk coming up on May 4th
in Jersey City, uh, around sickle cell.
And then the last board I just joined is this, so you can see a little
bit is PAC Pro athlete community.
And their focus is exactly what we've talked about.
How do I transition?
But instead of transitioning and thinking about it post-care, how do
I start to plan my exit strategy?
You know, in every business, all these people who are highly
successful, they have exit strategy.
So yeah, they might start a great company, uh, but they're, as soon as they
start that company, they're thinking, okay, in five years, this is the plan.
We want to exit.
We want to sell it here, we want to do this.
I.
So the plan is like, how do we get guys in as soon as they get in the NFL to
start planning their exit strategy?
And within that they have these business combines where you have people from
private equity, you have people from real estate, just all these different
networks come in and they pour into these guys, uh, for three or four days.
But most importantly.
They leave with these guys emails all on a app together so you can reach out,
Hey, I want to get involved in this.
I want to be, get involved in venture capital.
You can reach out to these people.
So, um, that was started with a guy that used to do player
development, Caleb Thornhill in Miami.
I.
He teamed up with this guy, chip.
They started this and now it just continuing to grow.
They just had one in in Miami.
They're gonna have one in Nashville where we invite former and current
players to come out and just learn about what you might want to do next.
So this is really cool to be involved in because I'm living proof.
Sam, you're living proof of, we try to have guys get around
different guys and just learn.
We feel like that doesn't happen enough when you get outside of the
locker room or even in the locker room.
We don't talk to each other about what we do off the field, enough of
saying, Hey, let me help you out.
Let me tell you about this investment.
Let me tell you about this person who's not a good person.
'cause you know how many times we hear people get involved with someone and they
had no idea that somebody else was already working with 'em and they could have
stopped and told 'em not to get involved.
So, um, I try to do that in my off time, be involved in those different things,
and that gives me great balance of.
Especially nowadays, a lot of 'em are virtual, being able to help out and
also like we talked about, first and foremost, is being around my family
as much as I can, but also finding some work purpose and, and some other
purposeful things that I can do to be impactful in other people's lives.
Okay.
Sam Acho: Well, I've heard some about the honesty.
You talked from Coach Belichick, also the pro athlete community.
You talked about the honesty there, that vulnerability.
A lot of people who listen to this podcast are pro athletes.
Who have had a lot of success.
We've talked about faith, we've talked about family, we've
talked a lot about football.
My last question I want to ask is around the finances.
What financial wisdom do you have for people who are listening to this podcast?
Devin McCourty: I think especially as players, don't be
the smartest guy in the room.
Be in the room with the smartest people, and I've learned that because.
I don't feel like if, if you've done well in the NFL and you've had a good
career, you don't have to sit here and be thinking like, I can't miss out on a deal.
I can't, no.
Like you just have to be strategic and you have to be smart.
And the way to do that is aligning with other people who
have done great in their fields.
And I think that's sometimes the hardest thing for us to do as players.
We've been so successful in playing football that when we walk away or any
sport, we walk away and we're like.
I wanna be a pro in that too.
Meanwhile, we meet somebody and, and we figure out, like even our, the
NFL owners, we get to be around him.
I got to be in one place, so I got to be around Mr.
Crab.
So I'm seeing how successful he is.
It's crazy for me to think that I'm gonna be him like this to be him.
It would take years, just like it took him years to accomplish
those different things.
So don't try to do everything in one second.
Surround yourself with smart people.
Ask questions.
We don't know different things.
We didn't get to go to school, we didn't get to do go to school for certain things.
We didn't get to do internships in the summer.
Most of us learning about real estate or banking or all these
different things, that's okay.
What you were able to accomplish.
Open some doors for you that you gotta walk through, but you gotta walk through
and say, Hey, how can I ask somebody a lot of questions and them guide me?
How can I seek mentorship from different people?
So that's what I've always tried to do.
I tell people all the time, like.
I'm not gonna sit here and tell you I'm a genius in investing in different things.
I've gotten advice from different people.
I've listened to it, I've, I've invested in certain things and
done different things like that.
But a lot of my financial successes come from leaning on other people
that I've built real relationships with that don't need me.
They're successful all on their own, but we have a genuine friendship that if
somebody sends me something, I'm like, man, this, this guy's, you know, I, I've
met some people who are billionaires.
I'm like.
This guy's a billionaire.
He know he sees this all the time.
Hey, I just got this deal.
I'll type up the email.
Hey, we would love for you to look at it and jump on a call to talk about it.
Hey, man, no problem, dev, because we have a real relationship.
We've hung out, we've gone to dinner.
So I always tell guys, man, as soon as you can.
Lean back in.
If you play college somewhere, lean back into the, the different alumni.
When you go to games where, and you're playing city, the city you're from,
like lean into different people who do some things that you might want to do.
Just pick their brain, uh, and go to lunch.
Go to dinner.
Have real relationships with people because we got to do that in football
and we never really thought about it.
But everything we did was, I had a relationship with some
receivers and I learned about what made them great at Receiver.
I had a relationship with Tom Brady.
Learned about what made him great at a court at quarterback, which
helped make me better at safety.
Me and Dante Hightower were captains for a long time.
I understood how he ran the front seven and what he wanted to do.
I taught him about what I wanted to do at this secondary.
Like all of those things, we're learning what other people are
great at, and we're putting it together to make ourselves better.
Once we leave, we gotta do the same thing.
We gotta learn about these different fields and put it
together to make ourselves better.
It's just we're not used to it.
And that's okay.
You gotta go in there.
Like I always say, uh, coach Oceano says something that, you know, when
you're in college, you hate every kind of thing that your coach throws out.
Every kind of acronym or different cliche, but he used to tell us
like, being a leader means being comfortable, being uncomfortable.
And I understood what that meant in every situation as I advanced that
you have to be a little uncomfortable when everybody's doing one thing.
Cliff.
You know, when we were training, I would tell God, Hey Cliff,
I need some Saturday work.
Like I need, I need to get it in on Saturday.
I don't feel good about my three cone.
Let's put in work Friday night guys like, Hey, we're going out.
Nah fellas.
Let's stay here.
Like, we don't need, we don't need to go over there.
We don't need to do any of that.
We'll need to go to Fort Myers.
Let's stay here.
And you gotta be comfortable saying, even if they all go, I'm gonna stay by myself.
And all those different things come up.
And, and that was a great piece of advice I got from him that I, I beat
into my kids and sometimes my wife like, Hey, you're not coaching me.
Stop telling me those different things.
But I just think they're so true for life.
Clif Marshall: Well, Devin, you gave me a cliff note today,
and I thank you for that.
And that cliff note is this.
If you're the smartest one in the room, you're in the wrong room.
And we talk very often about Proverbs 27 17, it says, as iron sharpens
iron, so one man sharpens another.
And that is certainly what you've done today on this podcast.
So I am so grateful, brother, for your time and just being able to
reminisce and really learn from you.
So thank you for your time today.
Devin McCourty: No, I appreciate y'all, man.
Love the space that you guys are in and what you're doing.
Uh, cliff, obviously I've gotten to know you well, Sam, through PA meetings
and different things like that.
Uh, it it is fun to watch you and you know, obviously we ran into each
other in New Orleans, but to see everything that you and your brother
are doing, it is awesome to see, man.
And I love this space that you guys are creating, man.
Keep it going.
Sam Acho: Definitely Devin, we appreciate you, man.
Seeing you not only in New Orleans in person, but seeing you on tv, playing
against you in different scenarios, but also more than anything, just
hearing you as a man, as a husband, as a father, as a leader, leaving a legacy.
All the things that we talk about, right?
Like you've won, we've seen in the background you've
won on the football field.
Now you're showing us what it looks like to win.
As a father.
You're showing us
what it looks like to win as an investor, all the different boards that you're on.
You're showing us what it looks like to win in your family, to win in your
faith, to win financially, to win physically, spiritually, emotionally.
And that's kind of the space that we wanted to provide.
And so, Devin, we appreciate you, man, uh, so much.
And Cliff, honestly, I thank you.
And Clem didn't share this fully, shared it at the beginning, but.
The reason that Cliff and I have this relationship that we
have is really because of you.
You took a risk on Cliff.
Cliff.
You took a risk on Devon, if you want to call it that.
And all of a sudden there was so much success and that success led me to that.
Proverbs 27 17.
On the back, I got the brochure right behind me.
It says It's iron sharpens iron.
Show this one.
Share one man sharp in another.
And I saw y'all at the back of this brochure for NFL Combine.
Try to make it to the NFL and y'all are holding hands with these
shirts, all black shirts with the white Proverbs 1717 praying.
I'm like, dude, I want
That.
Like those Wednesday Bible settings.
I forgot about that until you brought it back up.
Like that's what I was after.
Yeah.
I'm trying to go run as fast as I
can.
I'm trying to go and jump as high as I can and be a first round pick.
I'm trying to play a long career, but I know there's something more, even even
the point you made about the Super Bowl, we hear, we hear that all the time.
It's like, dude, we won.
Then what?
AJ Brown
made the point, man, okay, 72 hours later I just won a Super Bowl
for the Eagles and, and now what?
And so it's like that's the space that we want to provide.
It's the now
what?
Alright, boom.
You've won at this football basketball.
We'll be talking to guys who are in the NBA played successful career.
Now what?
And so you've provided us with that now, what you've talked about, what
it looks like to be a leader in your community, what it means to be a leader
in your family, what it looks like to build relationships, to be present.
To not be the smartest person in, in the room.
That's Cliff, cliff, the cliff note.
And so
we appreciate your time.
And so anybody else who wants to continue to tap in, go to sam macho.com
to listen to more of the Sam Macho podcast.
Uh, for me, for Cliff Marshall, for Devin McCordy, we say thank you.
Dev, we appreciate you, brother.
Devin McCourty: Alright fellas.
Good to see y'all, man.
Sam Acho: Yes, sir.
Clif Marshall: Buddy.
Devin McCourty: All right, man.
Have a good one.
Sam Acho: All right, you too.
All right.