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NY Post
New York Post
5 Sep 2023


NextImg:Inside how the McCourty twins are transitioning from the NFL to a budding media empire

Every year, the NFL holds an offseason broadcasting boot camp. The three-day seminar is sort of a mash-up of a minicamp and a scouting combine for players who want to be sportscasters.

At the NFL Network’s Los Angeles studios, the players are taught the basics of sports media and then are coached and evaluated on a variety of platforms, including calling games on TV and radio.

In April of last year, the McCourty twins, Jason and Devin, were the stars of the camp. Their ability to pick up the concepts and precisely communicate, combined with their stellar reputations, caused their names to move up TV networks’ scouting lists.

One of the executives working the seminar was Fred Gaudelli of NBC and Amazon, who has spent decades producing top NFL prime-time games and was just honored by the Pro Football Hall of Fame as the Pete Rozelle Radio-Television Award recipient. For a fledgling announcer to receive a stamp of approval from Gaudelli about their NFL broadcasting potential is akin to Bill Parcells taking a liking to the on-field talent of a college outside linebacker.

“They were by far the two most impressive guys, by leaps and bounds, I have ever had at boot camp,” said Gaudelli, who has been to 10 of the 16 seminars. “They were just natural.”

What Gaudelli is to prime-time NFL TV, Westwood One executive producer Howie Deneroff is to radio. Deneroff probably should be considered for the Rozelle Award one day after producing top NFL radio for 35 years. At the boot camp, Deneroff had Devin in to call part of a game.

Jason McCourty learned not only how to win a Super Bowl with Bill Belichick, but also a few tricks for navigating a broadcast audition.
Boston Globe via Getty Images

According to Deneroff, Devin McCourty — a three-time Super Bowl champion and two-time Pro Bowler in his 13 years with the Patriots — was excellent, but Deneroff gave him four pointers to improve on: When to speak, the differences between radio and TV, times to have energy and interacting with the play-by-player.

Later in the day, Jason McCourty entered the radio booth for his audition.

“Jason blew me away,” Deneroff said. “He nailed everything, including the four items I had talked to Devin about specifically, which means either he was a total natural or Devin tipped him off about that — which is OK, too, because, if so, that means he is a quick study to be able to incorporate it into his broadcast smoothly and quickly.”

Now it can be told, with their Belichick-ian roots, Devin gave Jason the notes, which he utilized to his advantage.

Gerry Matalon was also at the camp. Matalon, something of a horse whisper to broadcasters, coaches NFL media personalities and commentators from all over sports. With nearly three decades at his former employer, ESPN, and seven Sports Emmys on his résumé, his job is to help mold announcers.

“They are both interesting in three ways,” Matalon said of the McCourtys. “What they say. How they sound. And how they look expressing what they say. Also, what has impressed me, they are terrific talents already, but they are also terrific teammates.”

They have been that way since growing up in Nyack, N.Y., attending Rutgers and lasting more than a decade apiece in the NFL, including three seasons as Patriots teammates.

Cornerback Devin McCourty #21 of the Rutgers University Scarlett Knights defends against the University of Cincinnati Bearcats on September 7, 2009 at Rutgers Stadium in Piscataway, New Jersey. Cincinnati won 47-15.

A year after his brother was drafted out of Rutgers, Devin McCourty was selected out of the school in the first round by the Patriots, with whom Devin would win three Super Bowls in his 13-year career.
Getty Images

Before last season, Jason, who was a sixth-round pick, retired after 13 years and one Super Bowl ring, earned with Devin as a member of the 2019 Patriots.

Jason succeeded Nate Burleson on NFL Network’s rollicking daily show, “Good Morning Football.” Deneroff hired Jason to call games on radio. He was like a wide-eyed rookie before his first game, between the Steelers and Browns.

“Howard is letting me do a game with Ian Eagle,” Jason said he thought.

He was so good, he will have more radio games this year, and he has added around eight NFL and college TV games on CBS.

Meanwhile, Devin will start at the top as a studio analyst with the highest rated NFL pregame show, NBC’s “Football Night in America,” and will call some radio games, too. During the preseason, the twins did their own version of the Manningcast on Patriots games.

At just 36, the McCourtys may be in the beginning stages of an NFL media empire.

On a recent Wednesday morning, Jason was in the backseat of the NFL Network-provided car, going south on New Jersey’s Route 4 at 5:45 a.m. He had been up for more than an hour, traveling from his Franklin Lakes, N.J., home to 4 World Trade Center, where five days a week he is part of “GMFB.”

Before the sun has risen, Jason is scouting the moves of Cowboys 5-foot-5 running back dynamo Deuce Vaughn on a laptop.

A few hours later, sitting next to his TV family of a year — Peter Schrager, Kyle Brandt and Jamie Erdahl — McCourty spotlighted Vaughn as a player who has stood out during training camp.

While McCourty has succeeded Burleson on “GMFB,” Burleson is in the midst of becoming another Michael Strahan as a main presenter on “CBS Mornings,” an analyst and host in-waiting on the “NFL Today” and the star of Nickelodeon’s SpongeBob alt-NFL cast. But “GMFB” has not missed a beat with McCourty.

“People constantly ask me, ‘What it’s like to work with Jason?’ ” Brandt said. “Especially when he started and he was the replacement for Nate. And I always say: Easy. It is so easy. He shows up. It’s effortless.

“If he doesn’t talk, he doesn’t care. You can go to him with anything at any time and he’ll immediately have a thought on it, or just not go to him, and he doesn’t care that you didn’t go to him. It’s like I’ve never had an easier partner in any job.”

The McCourtys may have been coached by the Bill Belichicks and Greg Schianos of the world, but the way they have earned their sterling reputations is from the lessons of their mom, Phyllis.

Their father, Calvin, died at 35 from a heart attack brought on by asthma, when the boys were just 3. They did not get to know their father well, but he is still present within them.

“They sound just like him,” Phyllis said.

The same year that Calvin died, Phyllis was a passenger in a work-related car accident that has resulted in her needing two knee replacements.

New England Patriots Jason, left, and Devin McCourty are joined by their mother Phyllis Harrell, center, during the New England Patriots Super Bowl LIII rolling rally victory parade on Tuesday, February 5, 2019 in Boston, Massachusetts.

Phyllis Harrell joined hers sons, Jason and Devin McCourty at the Patriots Super Bowl parade in Feb. 2019.
MediaNews Group via Getty Images

Phyllis was a single parent in Nyack and money could be tight, but she would explain to her three sons why they sometimes couldn’t buy things. The twins have a brother, Larry, who is 16 years older and a Gulf War veteran.

Phyllis remarried when the twins were 12. She taught them to always be honest and to keep on keeping on.

“I just think when life gives you lemons, you make lemonade because what else are you going to do?” said Phyllis, whose last name is now Harrell.

Devin, who was injured during his senior year of high school, wasn’t as highly recruited, but piggybacked on Jason’s scholarship to Rutgers to get one of his own. Being considered a step behind Jason worked out for Devin, who ended up redshirting his freshman year.

Four years later, in 2009, Jason entered the draft first and was a sixth-round pick by the Titans. The next year, Devin was taken in the first round by the Patriots and had a career that will have to at least be considered for the Hall of Fame. It also helped Devin make more than $92 million compared to Jason’s still livable $55 million, according to overthecap.com.

They both have used their NFL careers for good, combining to be nominated for the Walter Payton Man of the Year Award five times. In 2013, in honor of their beloved late Aunt Winnie, they started the Tackle Sickle Cell campaign in partnership with Embrace Kids. It has raised more than $2.5 million.

On a recent afternoon, over salmon, Oscar style, at The Capital Grille in Paramus, Devin and Jason were curious about where their new ventures can take them. They each have a wife and three young children, so trying to find a balance is important to them.

Cornerback Jason McCourty #30 of the Tennessee Titans defends on a pass intended for wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders #88 of the Pittsburgh Steelers during a game at Heinz Field on September 8, 2013 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The Titans defeated the Steelers 16-9.

Though only a sixth-round draft pick in 2009, Jason McCourty found a way to last 13 seasons in the NFL with the Titans, Browns, Patriots and Dolphins.
Getty Images

Just as when he entered the NFL as a sixth-round pick, Jason has grinded on “GMFB” and now has added more games. It may be his good fortune that he is building his skills on a daily program and radio. From his first game with Eagle to his morning work, he has the skill not all ex-players possess so quickly to make the complicated simple for fans.

“It’s like he’s sitting on your coach talking to you about the game, but describing what he is seeing and then explaining in a way that is really easy to understand,” Deneroff said.

Devin is the rookie, but, as he was with the Patriots, he is a first-rounder, beginning on NBC in a one-night-a-week role and doing some Westwood One games. There is seemingly no jealousy between the two, though, Jason did good-naturedly note that Devin is making more money, but not working as much.

What has served Jason well and what will likely help Devin is that they are eager and willing to learn. Devin was on CBS’s “NFL Today” show a few times during his final year of playing last season. CBS made him an offer, though not for a full-time spot on its top show. NBC put him in prime time, making his decision easy.

Devin raved about “Football Night in America” host Maria Taylor being the point guard and offering to set him up any way she could for his analysis.

During a production meeting, NBC analyst and Pro Football Hall of Famer Tony Dungy said, “That’s all you need to say,” after Devin delivered more points than necessary.

Fellow NBC analyst Rodney Harrison called the day after their first show to emphasize being concise. Sam Flood, NBC’s president of production, has implored Devin to not bob, but to strike.

“Sam Flood said, ‘You’ve got to throw the punch,’ ” Devin said. “It’s like being in a boxing ring. He said, ‘Nobody wants to see you just dance around. He’s like, ‘Throw punches. I’m not saying you need to have hot takes, but you’ve got to say something.’”

In the end, that — consistently saying something informative — will determine if the McCourtys are about to build a media empire.