To all of the Jets and Giants fans that have been sending Devin McCourty tweets hoping that the free agent safety will sign with your team, know that the Nyack, N.Y., native has read your messages. And he listened to your pleas when he returned to his alma mater for a Rutgers basketball game last weekend.

At the time, McCourty wasn't sure if he'd actually become a free agent. But when the Patriots used their franchise tag on kicker Stephen Gostkowski before Monday's deadline, it set up McCourty to become a free agent.

Now the two-time All-Pro will give more serious thought to a potential homecoming.

"I would be lying if I said that it wouldn't be cool being back home," McCourty said in a phone interview with NJ Advance Media. "But I also know being back home comes with some new stresses and different things that way with family and friends being so close. For me right now, everything is open. I don't want to turn something down. I'm willing to leave everything open and see how it works out."

McCourty, a captain in four of his five seasons with the Patriots, had been in a holding pattern waiting for Monday afternoon's franchise tag deadline.

"Not knowing what was going to happen yesterday and then that was kind of telling a lot as far as now what the next step is," McCourty said. "The whole time I was kind of just waiting for that deadline to see what those steps were going to be, and now me and my agents know, so it's kind of exciting. The process really begins now."

McCourty arrived in Las Vegas on Tuesday afternoon to meet with his agents to discuss his plans for the coming days. The Patriots still hold exclusive negotiating rights through Friday before other teams are allowed to begin negotiations with McCourty's agents on Saturday. At 4 p.m. next Tuesday, McCourty will be free to sign a contract with any team.

"Now it's deciding what to do next as far as visits and different offers and what will happen from there," McCourty said. "I'm talking to my agents and seeing what's best for me and getting their opinion and what they've heard and what they know as of right now."

McCourty is widely considered the top safety available. The 27-year-old should command a contract with an annual salary in the $8-10 million range.

That's a long way from being a two-star recruit whose only Division 1-A scholarship offer came from Rutgers.

"This is really never what I thought of," McCourty said. "Coming out of high school and college, I wasn't really the top guy. With what people are saying now, it's kind of cool. It'll be exciting and interesting to go through and see how much of it is really true and how much is just hot air that people are saying. We'll see. That's what's cool about this time right now because some days will go past and you'll really see how true it really is."

McCourty will listen to a recruiting pitch from his twin brother Jason, a cornerback for the Titans. And he's interested in hearing from other teams after spending his entire career with the Patriots. But that doesn't mean McCourty is closing the door on a return to New England.

"That's the hard part in all of this when you become a free agent," McCourty said. "I think everyone always assumes you're gone, but that doesn't have to be the case. But that's the reality of it and it could be true. We'll have to just see how it works out, hear what they say and different things like that. Right now, for me, everything is open."

Free agency is a new experience and it's one that McCourty is embracing.

"It's a blessing to have this opportunity," McCourty said. "To start as a guy who was in a really good franchise and organization, and the first thing people said was that I got drafted way too high. Now to be here, after some ups and downs these five years, it's exciting and it's cool. I'm just trying to take advantage of it."

Dan Duggan may be reached at dduggan@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @DDuggan21. Find NJ.com Rutgers Football on Facebook.