The trade and free agency parade seems to be continuing on as the New England Patriots have signed former New York Jets linebacker David Harris to a two-year contract.
This signing further validates that the Patriots were not done improving their roster. Going into the summer break, the team had a depth issue at outside linebacker with inconsistent Jonathan Freeny and unproven practice squad player Trevor Bates backing up Rob Ninkovich.
Head coach Bill Belichick may have saw something in the first wave of OTA’s and mandatory minicamp that could have made him uncomfortable with the outside linebackers he had before the signing today.
The contract itself is by no means the veteran minimum. At its base value, it is worth $5 million with $1.25 million guaranteed. Met incentives could boost the contract value to a maximum of $6.75 million.
This makes it clear, Harris is not going to be just a camp body given his glowing resume as second-team All-Pro in 2009 as well as a two time AFC Defensive player of the week. Not to mention making over 100 tackles in six out of his 10 played seasons in the NFL.
The Patriots look at Harris as a hot commodity to not only improve their roster drastically, but also to take a piece from the bitter rival Jets.
Harris and the rest of the team will reunite in late July for the start of Patriots Training Camp and the Preseason.
