"Deltha is a very experienced player and he has great playmak ing ability," said Patriots quarterback Tom Brady. "He is always around the ball. He has a lot of great skills. I think everybody is excited to have him here."
Brady recalled being intercepted twice by O'Neal in a game vs. the Broncos in October 2001.
"Yeah, I remember - very well," Brady said. "There were four picks in the second half, actually in the fourth quarter. He made a diving catch that was pretty awesome. You don't want to mess around with him that much. He has great ball skills.
"In college [at Cal], he could do everything. He was a receiver, defensive back, and he returned kicks. Hopefully, he can add some of that playmaking ability to our team."
O'Neal, who was due to earn a $2.85 million base salary this season had he remained with the Bengals, signed a one-year contract with the Patriots; financial terms were not disclosed. After Denver selected him in the first round of the 2000 draft (15th overall), he was traded four years later to Cincinnati. O'Neal set a Bengals record with 10 interceptions in 2005, which earned him his second trip to the Pro Bowl.
The 5-foot-11-inch, 194-pounder played in 16 games last season and had 56 tackles (43 solo), an interception, 16 passes defensed, a forced fumble, and a fumble recovery. He missed all of the team's voluntary offseason program, found himself behind during training camp with new defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer, and was cut when he was unable to beat out second-year player David Jones for the third corner spot.
So what did the Patriots see in him?
"Well, we played him last year in Cincinnati and I did some work on him going into that game and saw him the rest of the season and in preseason this year," said Patriots coach Bill Belichick. "He is a very athletic corner, good ball skills, pretty big guy that goes up and plays a lot of press coverage - he has done that in the past. A physical player, good tackler, good interceptor, returner - we have seen the back of his jersey on that a couple of times."
