Devin McCourty talks with us about Revis, the Pats as a top secondary, Tackle Sickle Cell and more!

Earlier today I had the pleasure of speaking with Patriots safety Devin McCourty about the off-season, his new teammates and he and his brother's fight with Tackle Sickle Cell to raise awareness and funding for sickle cell disease (SCD). It's a cause that's near and dear to their hearts as their aunt struggles with the disease.

SCD is a hereditary blood disorder that changes the shape of red blood cells. The disease affects an estimated 90,000 to 100,000 for most of their life.

Having witnessed firsthand the devastating effects of SCD, Devin and Jason are on a mission to empower and offer support to families and affected individuals by raising awareness and education about the disease. In honor of World Sickle Cell Awareness Day (June 19), the twins are getting the word out about SCD and its serious complications. The twins are also shooting a PSA that will debut in September for Sickle Cell Awareness Month.

You can find more information at www.tacklesicklecell.org.

I did record audio of our interview, but unfortunately some technical problems made it a bit rough to listen to. Fret not though, I was able to transcribe some highlights from our chat. I did ask him about his contract situation and he said that he loved the Patriots organization, it's a business, and we'll see what the future holds!

Check out more of what McCourty had to say below!

On OTAs and minicamps being over:

We got some good work done, between OTAs and minicamps so its good now to get a little break and get your body ready for training camp.

On Revis being a Patriot and complimenting Belichick:

For outside people, the media, it's weird to see a guy switch teams in a big rivalry. But [it's different] for us players.

I met him in my rookie year down in Hawaii at the Pro Bowl. I've talked to him and seen him around a couple times. The more you get to know a guy, you view as just a player on another team. It's not that surprising [that he complimented Belichick]. He enjoys the game, studies the game, loves football and its very similar to how coach Belichick is. He's the type of player that Belichick loves to have in our system.

On Sherman saying the Patriots have a top 2, top 3 secondary in the league:

I think the biggest thing right now is we've given ourselves a chance...Whether we're top 3 or top 5, it'll be up to us. We have the ability to be that. One thing I'm very excited about is the group is hard working. Whether veterans or rookies that have just gotten here, guys are out there competing their tails off. Making plays and trying to learn each day.

I definitely think we have the ability to be a very good secondary this season.

On any Legion of Boom type nicknames:

[laughs] No nicknames in New England yet. We gotta go earn that.

On the other safety spot:

I think first right now at the safety position we have good competition right now. Each guy has competed: Nate Ebner, Pat Chung, Tavon Wilson, Duron Harmon, myself. All returning guys that have been out there. We all know the guy that started last year, Steve Gregory, is gone. So everyone knows there's an open spot.

It's tough, you don't really decide a starter in minicamp. Bill says it all the time. We enter OTAs and minicamp with no starters, everything is open. That's the attitude you have to take and training camp will really give guys an opportunity to earn that spot. And preseason games and joint practices, those are the times you really get to go out there and earn a position and earn a spot.

On Tackle Sickle Cell:

This is the second year. We teamed up with Embrace Kids foundation to start the Tackle Sickle Cell campaign. It's been great. We started off last year with a 5k walk and then added a casino night along with different blood drives.

It's been tremendous. Sickle Cell is a disease that not many people talk about. Some people think its a small group of people effected by it. The truth is, nearly 100,000 americans have the disease and deal with it every day.

It's something that I think needs to be talked about. I'm very fortunate and blessed to be a part of it. Our aunt, she deals with it, and that's where we first got our connection to the disease, seeing her struggles and what she's going through has inspired us to go out and make a difference. With doing that, we've gotten to meet people and hear their stories. Each year it makes me want to learn more and more about it

I don't know if everyone knows this, but people with sickle cell they also need blood transfusions and one thing with blood transfusions is the iron overload. When you have a disease and go through different things, it isn't easy. The last thing you want is, you think you're doing something positive for the disease with a blood transfusion and there's an iron overload.

That's very key, trying to teach people and make sure you are talking with your doctor, checking your iron level. Just to stay on top of it.

In our second year with Tackle Sickle Cell, I'm starting to realize how similar they are to us as athletes. Where we're constantly checking our body, whether its getting massages on the regular or hot tub or cold tub, paying attention to what we eat. People with sickle cell, it's the same thing. They have to focus on their bodies and pace themselves, make sure they don't overdo it.


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Huge thanks to Devin McCourty for joining us. Be sure follow him and his brother on twitter @McCourtyTwins and also check out @TackleSC and www.tacklesicklecell.org