FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Two-time Pro Bowl safety Rodney Harrison announced his retirement Wednesday, saying he is through hitting quarterbacks after a 15-year career for the Patriots and Chargers.
“I am done, and I am very much so at peace with that,” he said. “Football has been good to me. I’ve worked hard, I’ve played hard. I’ve done some things that I never dreamt I could do, and now it’s time to move forward to the next phase of my life.”
Later, NBC announced that Harrison will join its NFL studio show.
“When I played I didn’t have many friends,” he said, “so I’m sure I’m not going to make friends now.”
Harrison, 36, holds the NFL record for defensive backs with 30 1/2 sacks; he also has 34 interceptions, making him the only player to have at least 30 of each. But the numbers only tell part of the story about a player who had a reputation as one of the hardest hitters in the league — and one of the dirtiest, too.
“People have called me a dirty player. I’m a very passionate player,” Harrison said. “I also understand that this is not volleyball.”
Footnotes.
Yahoo Inc. has sued the NFL Players Association, claiming it shouldn’t have to pay royalties to use players’ statistics, photos and other data in its popular online fantasy football game because the information is already publicly available.
• The NFL and the players’ union opened talks in a bid to avoid a work stoppage in 2011, when the current labor contract expires.
• The Packers are hoping to take advantage of a new NFL rule allowing teams to attach a small patch with a corporate logo to the jerseys players wear in practice.
• A series of text messages from city of Irving, Texas, officials after the Cowboys practice facility collapsed reveal concerns about the structure’s quality and suggest the team “pushes” things through and receives preferential treatment.
The Associated Press
