The team will hold a 9 a.m. conference call with Harrison, who joined the Patriots in 2003 and won a pair of Super Bowl rings. NBC Sports, which used Harrison during its Super Bowl coverage this past season, has scheduled a conference call for noon.
Harrison has retained a broadcast agent, Mark Lepselter of Maxx Sports & Entertainment. When reached yesterday, Lepselter declined comment.
The hard-hitting and outspoken safety, who ends his career as the only player in NFL history with more than 30 sacks (30.5) and 30 interceptions (34), will go from delivering vicious hits to opposing players to delivering sharp points to television viewers.
Although anticipated, the loss of Harrison, who was both an elder statesmen and an emotional sparkplug, is another crack in the team's leadership and culture of winning. Suddenly, Patriots with Super Bowl rings are an endangered species.
Just six players remain that were with the team for all three of its championship seasons (2001, 2003, 2004): Bruschi, Seymour, Tom Brady, Matt Light, Kevin Faulk, and Stephen Neal, who didn't play in Super Bowl XXXVI and was on injured reserve for Super Bowl XXXVIII. Including that Super Bowl-winning sextet, there are 14 players on the current roster that have won a Super Bowl with the Patriots.
Factoring in the offseason trade of linebacker Mike Vrabel to the Kansas City Chiefs, Bruschi, Seymour, Ty Warren, reserve defensive end Jarvis Green, and backup linebacker Tully Banta-Cain are the only remaining defensive players with multiple Super Bowl baubles earned in New England. The Patriots aren't rebuilding, but they are reshaping the face of their team.
"Do I look around at times at these strange faces and say, 'What am I doing here?' No, no," said Bruschi, with a laugh. "You know, it makes you think about things, that you're not going to play forever. And definitely most players don't play for the same team forever, and I've been fortunate to be here all my years, 14 years, and I look forward to staying here and finishing here."
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