PROVIDENCE — Rodney Harrison still has it.

Still has the passion to play football, still has the desire to win games and championships.

And he still has a sharp tongue.

After a trying season — one that saw him return from a devastating knee injury, only to endure two more setbacks to injury, the second of which knocked him out of the playoffs — Patriots safety Harrison has spent the last several weeks rehabbing his right knee and working on his golf game.

In town yesterday as the keynote speaker for the New England Regional Turfgrass Convention, Harrison entertained the group, made up mostly of golf-course superintendents, with a wide-ranging speech that touched on his Chicago upbringing, the crazy series of events that brought him to New England in 2003, Pats coach Bill Belichick and what it takes for a team to be successful.

But it was when Harrison took questions from the audience that his frankness came out.

Asked whether he would want to have petulant receiver Randy Moss as a teammate, a move that has been speculated about since the trade deadline last season, Harrison said, “If he shuts up and plays football. If he comes in here like a prima donna, I’m not going to tolerate it, Tedy (Bruschi) isn’t going to tolerate it. He’s not going to destroy this chemistry that we have.”

The 34-year-old Harrison, who recently welcomed another son with wife Erika, called new teammate Adalius Thomas “a beast. Just a beast. What a great pickup.”

One man at the back of the room asked what happened to Freddie Mitchell, the former Eagles wideout who called out Harrison and the rest of the Pats secondary before Super Bowl XXXIX: “Who?” Harrison quipped. “I think he’s trying out for the Arena League. Maybe you have a position open for him. What a loser.”

Mitchell has not played in an NFL game since catching one pass in that Super Bowl.

As for the off-field issues that have league players in the news for the wrong reasons, Harrison believes that part of the problem is money: “You look at a guy like Pacman Jones (the Titans corner who most recently has allegedly been tied to a triple-shooting at a Las Vegas strip club), he’s obviously very talented, but I think the draft is set up wrong. You give a guy $12 million before he’s ever played a game in the NFL because he ran a fast time and had a good vertical (jump) at the Combine.

“I think it’s backwards. You work and what you earn, you get. For too many players today, it’s all about the money.”

Afterward, as he signed autographs and posed for pictures, Harrison spoke more about Thomas, the versatile linebacker the Patriots signed to a free-agent contract on Saturday:

“It’s definitely huge,” Harrison said. “I respect the way he plays. He’ll definitely add a dimension to the team; he can do it all. It’s a classic Bill Belichick move.”

Receiver Wes Welker, another new teammate, was “a pain in the butt” to deal with when he was with the Dolphins. “We had to double-team him because no one could stick with him man-to-man,” Harrison said.

As for his right knee, which suffered a partial tear of the medial collateral ligament after a hit from Tennessee’s Bobby Wade in the regular-season finale, the injury had Harrison wondering if it was a sign that it was time for him to hang up his cleats.

“No question. I thought about it then, I still think about it occasionally,” he said. “But I’m not afraid of the future. I can walk away from the game knowing I’ve given everything I could. I’m at peace (but) I still have the thirst to play. If I’m healthy and I feel it in July (when training camp starts), I’ll play. I’ve been working out, I’m in pretty good shape. I look forward to a healthy 2007 season.”

With the flurry of deals Belichick and Scott Pioli have made over the last week, many pundits are predicting another Super Bowl win for the Patriots. Not surprisingly, Harrison isn’t going to join the hype.

“It’s all writing. No one cares about that except oddsmakers and gamblers. Come on now, it’s March. You’re going to pencil us in already?”

smanza@projo.com