Rodney Harrison

Rodney Harrison (born December 15, 1972 in Markham Illinois) was a National Football League safety for the New England Patriots. He is known as one of the greatest safety's and hardest hitters in NFL history. He is also one of the most fined players in NFL history.[1] In his NFL career he has made the Pro Bowl twice, in 1998 and 2001, and has also made the All Pro Team twice (2003 first team, 2004 second team). He is the first and only NFL player to have at least more than 25 career sacks and interceptions. Now retired, he is an NFL analyst on NBC's Sunday Night Football.

## Contents

* 1 NFL career
* 1.1 1994-2006
* 1.2 2007
* 2 References
* 3 External links

## NFL career[edit]

### 1994-2006[edit]

Harrison entered the NFL in 1994 when he was drafted in fifth round of the 1994 NFL Draft by the San Diego Chargers. He would play with the Chargers until he was released by the them on February 27, 2003. He was signed by the New England Patriots on March 12, 2003.[2] In his first two years playing with the Patriots he was a key part in leading the Patriots to consecutive Super Bowl victory's in 2003 and 2004. In 2005, he was injured in the third game of the regular season and forced to miss the rest of the season on the Patriots injury reserve list.[3] In 2006 he played in ten games with the Patriots, missing six games to injury[4] before returning at the end of the season and being injured again.[5]

### 2007[edit]

After two injury filled seasons, many thought that Harrison would retire from the NFL but he instead opted to play for another season and took a (approximate) 700,000 pay cut.[6] On August 31, 2007, just a week before the beginning of the 2007 regular season, Harrison announced that the NFL had suspended him for the first four games of the 2007 season for violating the league's substance abuse policy.[7][8] Harrison stated regarding the violation, "I want to make it clear that not once did I ever use steroids. I did admit to the commissioner that I did in fact use a banned substance. My purpose was never to gain a competitive edge. Rather my use was solely for the purpose of accelerating the healing process of injuries I sustained while playing football."[9]

In his entire NFL career he has played in 168 games and made 1,113 total tackles, 28.5 sacks, 32 interceptions, forced fourteen fumbles and recovered nine.

## References[edit]

1. ↑ http://www.boston.com/sports/football/patriots/articles/2005/02/03/theyll_pay_if_hes_not_paid_respect/
2. ↑ http://www.patriots.com/search/index.cfm?ac=searchdetail&pid=3628&pcid=41
3. ↑ http://www.boston.com/sports/football/patriots/articles/2005/09/27/knee_injury_kos_harrison_for_rest_of_year/
4. ↑ http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2653435
5. ↑ http://www.patriots.com/search/index.cfm?ac=searchdetail&pid=22343&pcid=41
6. ↑ http://patriots.bostonherald.com/patriots/view.bg?articleid=1013835
7. ↑ http://www.nfl.com/news/story?id=09000d5d801fd1d3&template=with-video&confirm=true
8. ↑ http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2999994
9. ↑ http://www.boston.com/sports/football/patriots/reiss_pieces/2007/08/rodneys_stateme.html

## External links[edit]

* NFL Stats
* Official Website
* Patriots Bio