The Atlanta Falcons continued to remake the backend of their secondary this week with the addition of former New England Patriots safety Duron Harmon. After his signing on Thursday, the Falcons posted his interception against the New York Jets in 2019 on Twitter.
The Patriots traded Harmon to the Detroit Lions last May, but he spent the other seven years of his career up to this point in New England. Harmon won three Super Bowls and played in the AFC Championship six times from 2013-18.
Harmon made an impressive catch in the highlight above, but his most memorable regular season interception probably came against the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2017. Two downs after the infamous Jesse James “no catch” that under current NFL rules would be a touchdown today, Harmon intercepted Ben Roethlisberger’s pass in the end zone. The pick sealed a 27-24 victory for the Patriots and essentially clinched home-field advantage.
That play changed the potential matchups in the playoffs. As the No. 2 seed, the Steelers faced the three-seeded Jacksonville Jaguars in the division round and suffered an upset loss at home. If not for Harmon’s heroics, the Patriots might have been forced to beat Jacksonville and Pittsburgh to advanced to the Super Bowl instead of just one of them. The Patriots beat the Jaguars in the AFC Championship but lost the Super Bowl to the Philadelphia Eagles. In the Super Bowl defeat, Harmon also had an interception.
Harmon has 19 career interceptions in 127 NFL games. He also has 33 pass defenses and 248 combined tackles. With the Lions, he had two interceptions and a career-high 73 combined tackles last year. Harmon has started every game of his career except one during his rookie season.
In 17 career playoff games with the Patriots, Harmon had four interceptions and 5 pass defenses.
Harmon joins Erik Harris as safeties the Falcons have signed this offseason. Atlanta now has four safeties on its depth chart and will probably be looking to aim more depth to the position in the NFL draft.
