James Harrison officially signs with Pats

[Wheelman]

Whoa Wheelman! It's the holidays man. Your team is 12-3 and likely to win its 6th Super Bowl in 17 years in a few weeks. Life is good!

Most national reporters aren't very good; the local beat writers are far better. Aditi Kinkhabwala is no exception here.

Re/ being a 'shill' for the Steelers: "Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity"

I'm sorry. Happy Holidays!

 

[RIpats88]

Ive seen fans say rediculous things and atack a player for leaving. but dont know if ive seen a player do it like the vitriol coming out of the steelers locker room right now. If he joined another team I doubt this happens.

shows how much the patriots are in their headspace

 

[lillloyd]

I'm sorry. Happy Holidays!

LOL no worries.

I watched the Kinkhabwala take and agree that the talk of 'double-dipping' was way out of line unless she has some actual evidence to show for it btw. Just because it's something JH *could* take advantage of doesn't mean it was even a remote consideration when it came to his decision to ask for his release early on. He's made plenty of money and he'd be making somewhere around the vet minimum in any event; so I doubt cash is a significant factor in any of this.

Re/ Watt, Dupree, and Jarvis Jones - I think it was clumsily explained. I think what maybe (?) she was trying to say was that they were ready to take a different approach with Dupree and Watt than they did with JJ. I seriously doubt that anyone in the Pitt organization thinks that they somehow screwed up Jarvis Jones by playing JH more; but they may feel that they would have known what they had earlier (so they could cut bait earlier, if need be) if they'd fully committed. So there may be a caclulation going on that even if JH is similarly productive as Watt or Dupree, it makes a lot more sense to give PT to the younger guys since they're the future.

Finally, there's definitely truth to the statement that Harrison is a liabilty in coverage, and that Watt (and even Dupree) are superior here. I don't think that part is debatable; Harrison was never great in that area, and just can't really run anymore. Ironically it's teams like the Pats that can gameplan around and exploit the one-dimensionality of a defense that has pushed Harrison to the margins; Pitt wants its OLBs to be versatile and less predictable (which translates to dropping more).

Whether Moats and Chickillo are better is perhaps debatable. It makes me wonder (as I said earlier) whether there was more to the rotational decisions than just a decline in JH's play. Has Harrison declined to the point where Pitt thought he was less valuable than a decent Special Teams player? Or was the fact that it seemed like he was becoming an increasing problem in the locker room a factor? That's the million dollar question; if it's the latter, then the Pats have gotten a player that's better than his # of snaps this season would indicate.

 

[Lansdowne]

Older veteran pickups

Yes
Corey Dillon
Junior Seau
Martellus Bennet
Brian Waters

No
Oucho Stinko
Steven Jackson
Albert Haynesworth?

More older veteran hits and misses?

Hit
Randy Moss
Rodney Harrison
Chris Long
Ted Washington
Andre Carter
Bryan Cox
Roman Phifer
Sammy Morris
Darrelle Revis
Antowain Smith
LeGarrette Blount
Tyrone Poole
Keith Traylor
Otis Smith

Miss
Victor Green
Duane Starks
Joey Galloway
Torry Holt
Reggie Wayne
John Lynch
Terrance Knighton
Adrian Wilson
Shaun Ellis
Fred Taylor
Leigh Bodden (good first year, never recovered after missing 2010)
Adalius Thomas (good first year, disappointing final two years)
Shawn Springs
Marcus Pollard

 

[supafly]

Hit
Randy Moss
Rodney Harrison
Chris Long
Ted Washington
Andre Carter
Bryan Cox
Roman Phifer
Sammy Morris
Darrelle Revis
Antowain Smith
LeGarrette Blount
Tyrone Poole
Keith Traylor
Otis Smith

Miss
Victor Green
Duane Starks
Joey Galloway
Torry Holt
Reggie Wayne
John Lynch
Terrance Knighton
Adrian Wilson
Shaun Ellis
Fred Taylor
Leigh Bodden
Adalius Thomas
Shawn Springs
Marcus Pollard

Some of these misses were initially hits for at least a season, if not longer. Both Leigh Bodden and Adalius Thomas come to mind as players who fit into this category.

Of course, they were misses in the bigger picture, but sometimes you’re just hoping for 1-2 good years. In this case, we may only be hoping for a handful of good games from a guy like Harrison.

 

[Joker]

Adalius Thomas was a hit his first year

 

[supafly]

Adalius Thomas was a hit his first year

For sure, and halfway through his second season too, until he suffered the unfortunate arm fracture. He was looking real good in 2008.

When he returned in 2009, he was a crybaby about being moved to the strong side and ended up as something of a locker room problem. He was one of the four who showed up late to a December practice, which was pretty much the nail in the coffin for him. After that season, they were on the “plus” side of the contract and it became an easy choice to let him go.

 

[Lansdowne]

Agreed on Thomas being a hit initially. I just think he ultimately didn't live up to being the then-highest priced FA signing in team history. Especially toward the end when he was a sourpuss over being sent home for being late to a team meeting. After the third year of his five-year deal, he was out of the league. Probably doesn't fit the original "old vet heading toward end of career" narrative that the others listed had, especially since Thomas was a highly regarded free agent at age 30. I'll revise it.

 

[supafly]

Agreed on Thomas being a hit initially. I just think he ultimately didn't live up to being the then-highest priced FA signing in team history. Especially toward the end when he was a sourpuss over being sent home for being late to a team meeting. After the third year of his five-year deal, he was out of the league. Probably doesn't fit the original "old vet heading toward end of career" narrative that the others listed had, especially since Thomas was a highly regarded free agent at age 30. I'll revise it.

Great job compiling the list. I just wondered if guys like Thomas and Bodden (played his way to a nice second deal, here) were fits as total misses, that’s all.

 

[Lansdowne]

Great job compiling the list. I just wondered if guys like Thomas and Bodden (played his way to a nice second deal, here) were fits as total misses, that’s all.

Thanks, yeah it’s all subjective. Adrian Wilson was only a miss because he got injured before he could make the team. I would’ve loved having him as a third safety, and he deserved another crack at a SB ring. I also had Sammy Morris even though he was quietly solid and his numbers didn’t pop out (he was probably our best RB in 2007 until he went down). I know the idea was to have the bigger names listed, but there were so many vets that I had big expectations on that either lived up to it (Ted Washington) or didn’t (Albert Haynesworth).

 

[SlowGettingUp]

Hit
Randy Moss
Rodney Harrison
Chris Long
Ted Washington
Andre Carter
Bryan Cox
Roman Phifer
Sammy Morris
Darrelle Revis
Antowain Smith
LeGarrette Blount
Tyrone Poole
Keith Traylor
Otis Smith

Miss
Victor Green
Duane Starks
Joey Galloway
Torry Holt
Reggie Wayne
John Lynch
Terrance Knighton
Adrian Wilson
Shaun Ellis
Fred Taylor
Leigh Bodden (good first year, never recovered after missing 2010)
Adalius Thomas (good first year, disappointing final two years)
Shawn Springs
Marcus Pollard

So it's pretty much a 50:50 shot on a per player basis. On balance though, clearly a big positive for the organization given the negatives didn't have all that much negative impact or cost and some of those positives were very large indeed.

 

[YOUGOTMOSSED]

Seems like Harrison has talked a lot of sh*t about the Patriots over the years. Now, lo and behold, he's released by Pittsburgh following a soul crushing loss to the Pats and immediately signs with the Patriots?

Is my paranoia getting the better of me or is there something fishy about all this?

 

[GaryfromTO]

can never get enough of Scuzz....

 

[RobertWeathers]

BB has way more hits on the 29 and older crowd than misses...

Anthony Pleasant
Terrell Buckley
Tim Dwight
Corey Dillon
Mike Compton
Bobby Hamilton
Larry Centers
Fauria
Poole
Don davis
I thought Chad Scott and Delta O Neil were ok as a CB3s
In hindsight, Derrick Burgess was 31 and he had 5 sacks. Thats not bad. Problem is BB overpaid for him.
The Crump was great
Gerard Warren was good too.
Deion Branch Part Deux?
Brandon Browner? He set up Malcolm for the INT...
Alan Branch
Marty

 

[Mack Herron]

Seems like Harrison has talked a lot of sh*t about the Patriots over the years. Now, lo and behold, he's released by Pittsburgh following a soul crushing loss to the Pats and immediately signs with the Patriots?

Is my paranoia getting the better of me or is there something fishy about all this?

It's the first one.

 

[RobertWeathers]

It's the first one.

I think its getting to the point of BB having a little chat with Harrison.

With that said its rare a player of Harrison's stature has joined this team.

 

[Mack Herron]

I think its getting to the point of BB having a little chat with Harrison.

With that said its rare a player of Harrison's stature has joined this team.

He was scheduled to speak with reporters today. That has been cancelled.

 

[PF_SU]

So much for James Harrison never sharing knowledge with younger players:

 

[TomPatriot]

He was scheduled to speak with reporters today. That has been cancelled.

I think the chat resulted in the tweet instead of a PC. I’d tell him to let his play on the field do the talking. Hopefully, it will speak volumes.

 

[Froob]

I think its getting to the point of BB having a little chat with Harrison.

With that said its rare a player of Harrison's stature has joined this team.

Harrison will be out there with his hair (err bald head) on fire if he gets to see the Steelers again.