Not to again take this thread off topic, but I think some fans have slightly hazy memories when it comes to Rodney Harrison. I know it's an increasingly "what have you done for me lately" world in which we live in, but Let's go over Rodney's career. Rodney retired after racking up 1198 tackles, 114 PD's, 30.5 sacks, 16 Forced Fumbles, and 34 INT's. Those are ridiculous statistics, and mirror my opinion that Rodney in his prime was among the best Safeties the NFL has ever seen. Let's compare some of his stats to one of todays "elite" Safeties, Troy Polamalu.
Rodney went over the 100 tackle mark seven times during his career, and three times during his first six years as a pro. Troy Polamalu has already played six seasons in the NFL, and has yet to even come close to totaling 100 tackles. Rodney's racking up those 120-138 tackle seasons shouldn't be overlooked either, as he wasn't the only elite member on those defenses, and wasn't simply cleaning up mistakes.
When it comes to game changing plays, Rodney had 22 INT's after seven seasons in the league. After having played six seasons (and one game), Polamalu has 18 INT's, and while his current injury hurts his ability to pass Rodney's early efforts, let's not forget that Rodney missed eleven games during his first seven years as a pro. This is also something to keep in mind when comparing Rodney's 16 sacks over seven years to Polamalu's current 7 sacks in six years. Troy would have to rack up 9 sacks by the end of the season to catch Rodney, and I don't see it happening.
Getting back to the topic at hand, Brandon's playing quite well, and has become a leader on New England's defense. I think he's heading in that direction, but he's not yet what I would call an "elite" safety. However, I will say that I haven't noticed many teams throwing directly toward Meriweather, which is a sign that his coverage is usually very good, and apposing teams know throwing it in his direction can be dangerous. That pass breakup on a would be TD to Mason was an outstanding play, as he diagnosed the pass, and got there faster than McGowan who was actually covering Mason's half.