Devin McCourty was not scheduled to address the media Thursday -- he didn't even practice -- which usually means Patriots players are not even allowed to speak to the media.
But, given the current events in the country and sports, the Patriots leader did.
McCourty was very emotional, saying multiple times he feels "hopeless" following the Jacob Blake shooting and current racial issues in the country.
"I've been thinking a lot the last couple of days. I've had so many different emotions of being angry, being sad. A lot of it has really been what I try to talk to a lot of kids about. I've felt very hopeless," he said. "I don't have a statement. I don't have anything powerful. It's just been very disheartening. Just watching things transpire, watching lives still be lost and it's not just police brutality. It's everything we deal with. Even today, I'm going to come on here and you're going to ask me questions and it's going to be my opinions on different things. I just feel like overall until people turn on different things and we watch that and still have the same outlook like, 'Man, what is going on? This is heartbreaking. This is terrible,' it just doesn't matter. I've just felt very hopeless the last couple of days."
While some other NFL teams did not practice Thursday, the Patriots did.
McCourty said he hasn't had the time to think about what the team could potentially do, although it's worth noting the team has been having on-going discussions all summer on racial issues led by Devin, his brother Jason and other Patriots leaders.
"Honestly, I haven't even thought of any team aspect," he said. "As an individual, like I haven't been able to come to grips with anything, let alone be a voice to guys on what we should or shouldn't do. I don't have that answer. I haven't tried to be the guy in front or anything. I've been trying to handle things from an individual standpoint tying to understand. I've talked to guys separately or just about how I feel and trying to gauge how they feel and trying to make sense, but it's been hard for me individually to even try to say, 'Man, we should do this or we should do that.' I've been involved and been a guy that says, 'This is important. Guys, lets do this.'
"Right now, I don't' know if I tell a young rookie, 'We don't need to practice because we need to' – I don't have that answer. I don't know what to tell a young rookie – black, white - I don't care about that. I don't know what to tell them what we need to do next as a team, to help different black and brown communities that are struggling. Whether it's police brutality, whether it's education, whether it's healthcare – I don't have those answers to help those people. I don't want to do something just to do it because everybody else is doing it. I'm still I'm still searching within myself for that."
McCourty said everything is on the table in terms of what the players can do, but he doesn't exactly know what that is.
"I think everything should be on the table in terms of solutions, but I don't feel like is that the answer? Even as you think to yourself, like would it mean more to you to hear owners get involved? I can't answer that. I don't know if that would be the change that is needed," he said. "For NFL owners to get more involved, I think it would be awesome. I think if we had that across the league — I know here in New England I have had plenty of conversations with Mr. (Robert) Kraft about different things. I don't know. Would it help people to see Mr. Kraft jumping in front of a camera and say how he feels about the things in Wisconsin? Would that cure all the things that are going on in our country? Would that help the different people in Wisconsin walking around with guns? Because in my eyes when I watch that, that is pretty threatening to see someone walking around with a loaded gun. But, for some people in Wisconsin, that is not threatening at all. How do we change that? How do we get people to understand the difference of being a Black person and being a White man — a Black man and a White man? Why can they be seen as equal walking down the street? If one has a gun, that could be threatening, but the one who doesn't have a gun if he is black might be more threatening to someone.
"I don't know if having ownership behind us makes that voice louder. I think we are at the point in our country where we've had the most awareness that we've ever had. You're talking about 2020 with social media and all the different outlets over the last couple of months — people have been talking about this non-stop. I don't know. I couldn't give you a straight answer. If we all boycott Week 1, will that solve the problem? I don't know because does it matter if all come back to play Week 2. I think everything should be on the table. I am not saying that those aren't solutions. It's just hard. It's just hard right now. I have got the opportunity to be around a lot of smart people and I will continue to lean on them and always try and brainstorm with a lot of different individuals."
As of now, the Patriots are scheduled to have an in-stadium practice Friday.
