Rodney Harrison still has the utmost respect for his former teammate, Tom Brady.
Harrison joined The Mike Tirico Podcast, discussing his relationship with Brady and how the Pats quarterback maintains the same level of work ethic he's had since day one.
"I took Tom for granted," Harrison said. "I took him for granted because I played with Tom Brady and he's just a normal guy. He's a guy I could talk to, I could text... We forget - and I think I forget - that Tom Brady is the greatest quarterback. He's like the Michael Jordan of football. It really didn't dawn on me until I was sitting there and I'm looking at him and saying 'Dude, you're the greatest ever.' And he was like 'I don't view myself like that.'
I asked him about if he had to change his leadership style to relate to the younger players. And he said no, he's basically the same and the players respect him because he loves his teammates so much. And it just had me so fired up because a guy that takes an extra hour or two or three hours to work on his body before and after practice, the level of sacrifice that he makes on a daily basis to get out there and play football - it had me inspired. It had me inspired to do my broadcasting job a little better. It had me wanting to go watch a little bit more tape. That's the type of inspiration that Tom Brady is. And people don't know he's so humble. The same guy that I saw in 2003 that I met, I came in here and gave him a hard time when we practiced is the same guy that I see to this very day. But the fire burns even more in him right now because he understands it. He's been through so many years of ups and downs and now Tom - the thing that I took from him - is Tom is at a place where he's peaceful in his life. There's no more chasing anything. He's just having fun, playing football and doing the things that he loves."
Harrison also talked about how Brady's motivation came from being on a winless team in high school.
"He told me, I remember when I was a freshman in high school, I was on an 0-8 team and we didn't win a game, but he said I was at a point where I couldn't even get on the football field on an 0-8 team," said Harrison. "And he said people don't realize how much that truly motivated me to want to work hard. And I thought that was pretty cool, because he never told me that story. He told me that back in 2003, he was really motivated because of him getting drafted so late. And I thought that was really the source of his motivation. But he was like, I couldn't get on the field on an 0-8 team and I felt so bad - so he said he went to work and that motivated him and really propelled him to always seek the greatness he has. And it was just really amazing to me, because something like that in high school motivated him to the point where he wanted to be the greatest of all time. It's pretty special."
New England Patriots
You can listen to Rodney Harrison's full interview with Mike Tirico below:
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