After seven seasons with the New England Patriots, Duron Harmon is now moving on.
He was traded to the Detroit Lions on Wednesday, and Patriots fans apparently weren’t the only ones surprised. While speaking with Lions team reporter Tori Petry, he told the story of how he learned about the trade.
“He starts wiggling the tooth and my phone is vibrating,” Harmon said, transcribed by WEEI. “For some reason — I don’t really even look at my phone when I’m at the dentist — but I pulled it out and saw it was Coach Belichick. I was like, ‘Alright, I’ll call him back when this guy finishes taking out my tooth.’ Literally, 10 minutes go by and he calls me again.
“Right after he called me, I saw a message and he was like, ‘Call me back.’ So I finished getting my tooth taken out, jaw is puffy is ever and I called him back. We’re on the phone, we’re talking a little bit, some small talk, and he lets me know, right after I get my tooth taken out, ‘You’ve been traded to the Lions.’”
Fortunately for Harmon, Detroit’s head coach is former Patriots defensive coordinator Matt Patricia. He also has familiar faces on the defensive side of the ball with Trey Flowers, Jamie Collins and Danny Shelton.
“It was a lot of emotions, but at the end it was the best thing for best situations,” Harmon said. “For myself, coming (to Detroit), being able to join such a great organization to help try and lead the best way that I know how and the Patriots get some room on their salary cap.
“I went from worrying about my tooth to now worrying about getting ready to move, having to do this, (that). A lot of thoughts come running into your mind, like a small headache came, and I just said, ‘Sit back, process everything for a little bit and be appreciative that a team wanted me. Matty P wanted me to come and just appreciate how blessed I am to still be going into my eighth year playing in the National Football League.’”
The Patriots still have Devin McCourty, Patrick Chung and Terrence Brooks at safety — while signing Adrian Phillips to fill a hole also.
