New England Patriots - NESN.com
As the New England Patriots prepare for their 2025 season opener against the Las Vegas Raiders, one of their former players, safety Duron Harmon, announced his retirement from the NFL after enjoying a successful 11-year career.
Harmon played a key role in the Patriots’ secondary during his time with the team, helping the franchise win its three most recent Super Bowls. Along the way, he got to play with some legendary players, with the best of the bunch being quarterback Tom Brady.
Widely considered the greatest player in NFL history, Brady won seven Super Bowls during his time on the field, six of which were with New England. During the second half of the Pats dynasty at the turn of the century, Harmon helped hold down the fort on defense, allowing Brady and the offense to go out and put points on the board.
While Harmon spent the majority of his time in the league playing with Brady, he went up against him frequently in practice. In an exclusive interview with Owen Crisafulli, Harmon revealed that he quickly learned not to test Brady’s competitive mentality.
“We were having a scrimmage … and I say something smart to him.” Harmon said. “And before I know it, this guy flips a switch, and he starts dealing, I’m talking about, ‘pew, pew, pew. pew.’ He looks at me and says, ‘Do you f***ing like that?’”
“He came up to me after, because I was in shock, and I didn’t say anything for the rest of the practice, because at that point he was killing us, and his point was made. But he comes up to me and he puts his arm around me and he says, ‘Hey Duron, sorry about that. I just get really, really competitive.’ And I said, ‘Nah, it’s OK. I’m just glad to be on your team, because I don’t want to go against that in an NFL game.’”
Brady relentlessly torched opposing secondaries during his time under center, and he often did so without remorse. Since Harmon was his teammate, he felt the need to apologize for his outburst, which is something many of Brady’s opponents were not as fortunate to receive.
By now, Brady’s competitive motor is the stuff of legends, and Harmon saw it firsthand after making a simple comment during practice. That’s what it takes to be great in the NFL, though, and it’s likely why the Patriots enjoyed so much success to begin the century.
