Since he signed with the New England Patriots several days ago, veteran linebacker James Harrison participated in two practice sessions with his new team. In Friday’s press conference, journalists were eager to ask Patriots head coach Bill Belichick about his new acquisition and how he’s performing so far. “He's worked hard. Got a lot of information to process but he's working at it,” said Belichick when asked about his first impression of Harrison after the first two practices. “We'll keep stringing them together here and see how it goes,” added Belichick, who also spoke a few words about Harrison in his Wednesday press conference.

The 39-year-old Harrison signed a one-year deal with the Patriots days after he was released by the Pittsburgh Steelers, where he played 14 of his 15 NFL seasons. Harrison left the Steelers as the franchise’s all-time leader in sacks with 80.5. Harrison joined the Steelers in 2002 as an undrafted free agent and played one season with the Cincinnati Bengals. He played just 40 snaps in five games with the Steelers, who released him to make room for Marcus Gilbert on the 53-man roster.

Brady excited to have Harrison as a teammate

Patriots quarterback Tom Brady spoke for the first time about Harrison, who shared a photo of him and the quarterback on Instagram after he signed a deal with New England, including the caption: “Finally...

A teammate that’s older than me!”

The 40-year-old Brady said he told Harrison that “I liked him much better in our colored jerseys.” Brady said he’s excited to have Harrison as a teammate: “I know it’s late in the year but guys who have played in these big games and those situations; it always helps having good players out there,” said Brady, hoping that Harrison will do a great job for the Patriots.

Brady said he played against Harrison for a long time and he’s aware of what he can do on the defensive side of the ball.

Gronkowski, Slater happy to have No. 92

Special teams captain and returner Matthew Slater was elated with the addition of Harrison to the team. “We're excited to have No. 92 out there. Certainly a player of his caliber that's accomplished all that he has over the course of his career, any time you can add a guy like that it's exciting,” said Slater.

However, Slater said the addition of Harrison doesn’t guarantee the Patriots anything. Tight end Rob Gronkowski also shared Slater’s sentiment, saying: “it's great to have a caliber player like that on our team.”