Safety Devin McCourty, who said he might retire if the Patriots won Super Bowl LIII, will be back for a 10th season in New England.
"Yeah, I'm gonna play," McCourty told the Sports Spectrum podcast in an interview published Thursday.
"It was media night when Deion [Sanders] said that to me, and it's like, 'Yeah man, if we win a Super Bowl, I don't know what else can top that.' And I think in that moment I kind of forgot like, I don't play this game just to win Super Bowls. There's so much more that comes from me playing the game that I love. And I think once you get a chance to step away for a couple weeks, now you're like, 'Yeah man, I still want to be around these other young guys that come in ...'"
McCourty, 31, is an eight-time Patriots captain. He has played in 139 career regular-season games, starting all of them, in addition to 22 playoff games.
He's won three Super Bowl titles, but the one against the Rams likely was his most special; his twin brother, Jason McCourty, joined him for it after signing with the Patriots last offseason.
Devin has one year remaining on his contract, through the 2019 season. Jason is scheduled to become a free agent next month.