James Harrison is 39 years old and recently was cut by the Pittsburgh Steelers after not seeing a lot of playing time during the 2017 season.
So can Harrison help his new team, the New England Patriots? Tedy Bruschi certainly believes so.
The Patriots signed Harrison on Tuesday, and the former-New England linebacker turned ESPN analyst believes the five-time Pro Bowl linebacker will help the Patriots in certain matchups during the playoffs.
“I think the New England Patriots are thinking, other than (inside information on the Steelers), who are the quarterbacks they can possibly see in the playoffs? (Joe) Flacco, Flacco’s playing well. (Harrison) is familiar with them. (Ben) Roethlisberger possible, so I don’t know. Is it possible to go Flacco, Roethlisberger? I don’t know. But this guy is familiar with that AFC North, he’s still a good player, that speed, that power, that bull rush, he’s still got all that strength.”
Harrison should help a Patriots defense that has been hit hard by injuries on the defensive line and has struggled to get pressure on the quarterback.
And, as Bruschi notes, Harrison knows a few of the quarterbacks the Patriots could see in the AFC playoffs quite well, so this could prove to be another brilliant move from head coach Bill Belichick.
