[UPDATE – The Browns have traded McCourty to the Patriots, rather than releasing him]
The Browns are releasing cornerback Jason McCourty, Mike Garafolo of NFL.com tweets. McCourty has personally confirmed the news via social media. 
McCourty joined the Browns last offseason on a two-year, $6MM deal with $2MM guaranteed. However, the new regime is going in a different direction following the free agent pickups of cornerbacks T.J. Carrie and Terrance Mitchell.
One has to imagine that the Patriots will have interest in McCourty. Last offseason, they had interest before he hooked on with Cleveland. Of course, his twin brother twin brother, All Pro safety Devin McCourty, would be an advocate in that regard.
“I think there was definitely mutual interest, but to be honest, the Patriots are kind of set at cornerback,” McCourty said last year. “They have a lot of talent in that room. There really wasn’t room for me. Me and Dev talked about that and that’s just the way of the league. I’m excited about the opportunity I have in Cleveland to work with those guys.”
McCourty missed all of 2015 and had a so-so year in 2016, leading the Titans to cut him. However, he bounced back strong in Cleveland with three interceptions and a top-30 rank on Pro Football Focus’ list of NFL cornerbacks. In that sense, the Browns’ decision to release McCourty is a little perplexing since he was set to carry a reasonable cap hit of less than $3.6MM. The move will bring about nearly $3MM in cap savings for the Browns.
McCourty, 31 in August, could very well be in for a pay raise on his next deal, wherever that may be.
Veteran on a good contract. Mostly solid all year. I don’t get the browns moves this year in the secondary. I thought Jamar Taylor would be cut before McCourty. By my count, browns have 4 slot CBs on the team, two of which can play FS, one of which will be moving to FS. No outside corners, I count Taylor as a slot CB, he was pretty bad last year on the outside.
I posted somewhere a couple days ago that I have a feeling Dorsey will draft at least a couple CBs. Now I’m even surer of that happening.
I’d be shocked if he doesn’t. He mentioned that if a guy can play corner or safety he’d start them at corner which makes me think he’s considering Fitzpatrick, but I could also see them taking an Isaiah Oliver or someone early in the second.