How the Patriots added Rodney Harrison and Rosevelt Colvin to their roster last March illustrates the importance of making the right moves during free agency.

01:00 AM EST on Sunday, March 7, 2004

BY TOM E. CURRAN
Journal Sports Writer

The tour was over. Rodney Harrison had met the coaches, seen the facilities and come to accept that he'd soon be an Oakland Raider. He'd started to embrace the idea, actually. Playing for Oakland would give him two opportunities each season to show the San Diego Chargers -- the team that turned its back on him when it released him a few weeks earlier -- how wrong they'd been.

And Oakland was just coming off a Super Bowl appearance.

So as Harrison headed toward the office of Oakland Raiders senior assistant Bruce Allen last March 10, it was starting to sink in.

By the time he got back, his agent, Steve Feldman, would have a dotted line waiting for Harrison's signature. It would be done.

"How'd it go?" Feldman asked, standing to meet Harrison.

"Great," Harrison replied, beaming.

"Good," said Feldman. "We need to talk."

And Feldman led Harrison from Allen's office.

Desperately seeking 'D'

About this time last year, the New England Patriots were still drooping from the way their 2002 season went. They finished 9-7 -- not bad -- but they'd missed the playoffs after winning Super Bowl XXXVI. And that was probably just as well because by the end of 2002, their defensive shortcomings were clear and abundant, and a playoff game would have probably meant another dope-slapping from a quality opponent.

The Patriots didn't tackle well. When running backs weren't running over their linebackers, they were running through their safeties. Big plays were commonplace and their third-and-long defense was laughably poor at critical junctures. Was it the anemic pass rush or the suddenly shoddy secondary that was causing so many problems? Or was it both?

In his season-ending press conference, normally tight-lipped head coach Bill Belichick was surprisingly glib when he said his defense needed to get younger and faster in 2003.

How and with whom? That answer came in a sudden burst of front-office activity just after free agency started. The additions helped the Patriots win the Super Bowl again.

A last-minute ring

While Harrison was meeting the Raiders coaching staff, Allen and Feldman were finishing a deal that Feldman said was being typed and was "90 percent done."

Then Feldman's cell phone rang. It was the Patriots' vice president of player personnel, Scott Pioli. Feldman told Pioli he was in Allen's office.

"You need to get the hell out of there," Feldman recalls Pioli saying. "Get the hell out of there and come see us."

"We need parameters," Feldman told Pioli after excusing himself from Allen's office to talk.

Feldman told Pioli he had concerns about leaving an offer on the table. Pioli reassured him, and Feldman prepared to present the development to Harrison. Then, before Harrison returned, Feldman's cell rang again. It was Broncos' coach Mike Shanahan. He wanted Harrison to get to Denver ASAP.

When Harrison returned, Feldman told him what had happened.

"Rodney's a cool customer," Feldman said. "He trusted me."

So Feldman went back in to tell Allen, who's now in the Buccaneers front office, that Harrison was going to visit New England.

"They were [ticked]," said Feldman. "Things were going good and we were going to sign. The Raiders always want you to play for their price, for the opportunity to be a Raider. When [Allen] realized the money he offered wasn't going to get it done, he went overboard and brought the numbers up. I told him I appreciated it, but it wasn't in the area we wanted with Denver and New England on the phone. I told him we needed time."

Harrison and Feldman returned to their hotel room in Oakland and called the Patriots again. They decided it was urgent enough to catch a red-eye flight to Boston. In their shorts and T-shirts, Harrison and Feldman boarded a midnight flight to Boston. They slept on the plane and arrived, Feldman said, to 28 degree temperatures.

Coming up Rosey

As Harrison was arriving on that Tuesday, former Bears linebacker Rosevelt Colvin was just leaving New England having signed a six-year, $25.85-million contract. Colvin was a coveted player in last year's free-agent pool -- an outside linebacker with pass-rushing skills that helped him roll up 21 sacks in his previous two seasons. And he was just 25.

Colvin had gotten barely a sniff in the first few days of free agency. "He's like the pretty girl at the dance everyone's afraid to approach," his agent, Kennard McGuire, said. Then he began getting calls. He visited five teams in rapid-fire fashion -- the Giants, Jacksonville, Detroit, Arizona and Houston.

Then McGuire went into hiding. The Patriots had called. Belichick -- who raved about Colvin during the regular season -- wanted a chance to meet with him and tell him what he foresaw Colvin doing in New England. And he didn't want people hearing about it. Colvin arrived by himself on Sunday, March 9, and began meeting with Belichick, Pioli and the rest of the staff.

"When a free agent comes in, we try to do two things," Belichick explained. "We try to hear what they're looking for and what's important to them, and then we try to see how they'd fit into the team and what their roles and responsibilities would be. There's always competition so we can't come out and promise a position, but they can see what the opportunity is.

"With Colvin, he was a good fit for our system because he played in a 4-3 in Chicago and rushed on third down as a defensive end," Belichick said. "But we were going to be in the 3-4 more than the 4-3, and he would be like half a defensive lineman in the 3-4 and rush half the time. We knew him through some people who'd been at Purdue -- Dave Nugent [a former Patriot], Matt Light and [former Pats assistant] Randy Melvin. I heard nothing but great things about his football character, his work ethic and his character, and we knew he had playing ability."

McGuire said Colvin's main focus wasn't the financial bottom line.

"The first thing we were talking about wasn't contract or parameters," said McGuire. "It had to be a place Rosey felt comfortable in and a place where he felt comfortable in the environment for him and his family. The negotiations were fairly straightforward. Both sides knew what was trying to be accomplished. This was indeed a place they would win or a place where the value system stayed in place and skills were utilized. Everything about it was very diplomatic."

As Sunday rolled into Monday, Pioli and McGuire began to hammer out the deal. By early Tuesday, it was done. And in came Harrison.

The right chemistry

"The Patriots sent one of their kids to pick us up at the airport," recalled Feldman. "There were no limos, nothing like that. The kid took us to eat at the Ground Round down the street from the stadium. Me, Rodney and the kid, us still in shorts."

Harrison was now riding the crest of a wave after he'd been as low as he could be when the Chargers released him.

"We had no idea [the release] was coming," said Feldman. "He had every intention of finishing his career as a Charger.

"When he tore his groin off the bone [in 2002] he taped it up and played his butt off. He came back to play against the Patriots [in week four] but he dragged his leg all over the field after that and at the end of the year, it came back to haunt him.

"He should have sat his butt down like everyone else would have. He didn't and then he hears, 'Gee, you can't play anymore, you can't run.' Well, I guess you would lose a step if your groin was off the bone."

Feldman described Harrison after the release as being, "insulted, discouraged, frightened." Harrison, he said, was "really, really bummed."

There were negotiations with the Falcons and Saints over the phone, and a trip to New Orleans was planned.

But first, they went to Oakland and Harrison was enthused about being able to play in the same secondary as cornerback Charles Woodson. He also knew the Raiders didn't have an aversion to players over 30.

But the Patriots intervened.

Here's how Feldman remembers the meeting unfolding:

"We met with Scott Pioli and Belichick and Robert Kraft. Bill just looked at him and said, 'I know you can play and I want you to play.' Coming from Belichick, that made a difference. Everyone thought he was through, thought he couldn't run.

"When Bill said, 'Dude, I know you can play,' that moved him. We saw what they were doing [personnel-wise], and we felt Bill would maximize his talents. Scott started talking numbers and they made sense, and Robert Kraft was tremendous -- warm, congenial, outgoing, and he showed respect and showed he wanted Rodney on the ballclub. Then I started negotiations with [chief operating officer] Andy Wasynczuk and things worked out beautifully.

"We were in a conference room and we asked everyone to leave so we could talk," Feldman continued. "I told him what we had and mentioned the Broncos' offer. I said I didn't know if [the Patriots' offer] would be there tomorrow or if they'd fly someone else in. The money Denver talked about was similar [the Pats ultimately gave Harrison a six-year, $14.5-million deal]. But he thought it might be good to get out of the AFC West and start anew. So we did it and it turned out perfect."

"It was exciting," Belichick acknowledged. "The Harrison deal came down fast and we didn't think we were in it. I have a tremendous amount of respect for him as a player and person and the way he played the game, and he had a good feeling about us as well. Sometimes when you haven't spent time with a person but you know about them and the way they do their job, when you meet, there's chemistry. There was a lot in place before the meeting began and we all started to realize, 'This can happen now, we're not just dreaming about it.' "

When it was all done, and Harrison -- who a day before was practically a Raider -- was a Patriot, he and Feldman walked out. Still in their shorts, they looked at each other and said, "Holy [cow]."

Instant impact

The Patriots now had their sure-tackling safety, a player who brought significant hitting and attitude to a secondary that seemed to be lacking it in 2002. They also had their young, athletic pass-rusher, the best one on the market. And less than a week earlier, they had secured a new corner, Tyrone Poole, a terrifically fast player with strength who would eventually supplant veteran Otis Smith. Poole, too, was a key signing, coming in after the team had first talked to former Browns corner Corey Fuller and signing a four-year, $8-million deal.

As it turned out, Colvin wasn't much of a regular-season factor, fracturing his hip in the second game and missing the rest of the year. But his effect on the team was noticeable in training camp and the preseason, and he brought a life to the pass rush that carried through the season. Mike Vrabel in particular flourished in the aggressive schemes hatched when Colvin was imported. Even though he was absent, Colvin seemed to have an impact.

"We definitely thought we improved our secondary with Tyrone and Rodney," said Belichick. "With Rosey, we felt we'd be a better third-down team than we were in 2002. It was hard to project they'd make a big difference on first down but in terms of being better on third down, we definitely thought we would be."

A few weeks ago, Feldman got a call from someone he hadn't spoken to since last March: Bruce Allen.

"He said, 'Well, I saw what your boy did this season,' " Feldman recalled. " 'Congratulations. He deserved it. And, by the way, you did the right thing.' "