Patriots Sign OLB James Harrison, Waive LB Trevor Reilly

Field Yates of ESPN reports that the Patriots are expected to sign former Steelers LB James Harrison on Tuesday.

• The Patriots waived LB Trevor Reilly to make room for Harrison.

Reports surfaced earlier in the day that Harrison was visiting with the Patriots and it appears as though everything checked out.

As soon as the news broke that the Steelers had waived Harrison, the Patriots immediately came up as the team to watch for Harrison, given that they could use pass-rush help and offer him the opportunity to compete for another Super Bowl title.

Mike Garafolo mentioned that the Patriots didn’t claim Harrison on Monday because they wanted to take a look at him first and this allows them to sign Harrison to a one-year deal, as opposed to picking up his 2018 salary.

Harrison, 39, originally signed on with the Steelers as an undrafted free agent out of Kent State back in 2002. He had a brief stint with the Ravens but returned to the Steelers in 2004 and eventually secured a long-term extension from the team.

Pittsburgh, unfortunately, released him in 2013 and Harrison spent a year with the Bengals before returning to the Steelers at the start of the 2014 season. The Steelers re-signed him to a two-year, $3.5 million contract that included $500,000 guarantee this past March before he was waived last week.

In 2017, Harrison has appeared in five games and recorded three tackles and one sack for the Steelers.

We had him featured in our Top 50 Available Free Agents list.