New England Patriots safety Devin McCourty has admitted that Denver Broncos tight end Julius Thomas poses one of the largest threats to his team, ahead of the AFC championship game on Sunday.

Thomas missed the previous contest between the sides back in November, when his side were downed by a second-half comeback from the Patriots.

However, McCourty is expecting a different contest this time around, with Thomas - who has 12 touchdowns to his name this season - likely to play a key role.

McCourty told reporters: "Julius offers every type of matchup problem for us. Going into the first game we didn't know if he would be playing or wouldn't be playing so we studied him a lot for that game too. I think he creates a tough matchup.

"He is a bigger, taller tight end but he is very explosive. They use him to make sure they get him against safeties, get him against linebackers and even get him against corners sometimes.

"He'll be out wide, he'll be backside sometimes, he'll be in the tight end position, so we'll just have to know where he's at and different guys will be on him."

Prior to this season, Thomas had just one reception through the previous two years of his NFL career.