Damien Harris retweets Darius Slay's anti-Patriots tweet
BOSTON -- After a couple of days of legal tampering, running back Damien Harris has yet to secure a contract in free agency. But some social media activity on Wednesday may indicate that he's moving on from the Patriots.
That does require a bit of deductive reasoning, sure. But Harris retweeted a tweet from Darius Slay on Wednesday that certainly would be considered strange behavior for an active member of the Patriots.
Slay quote-tweeted Quandre Diggs, who himself had quote-tweeted Vic Tafur's report that Darren Waller had been upset with Josh McDaniels for telling the media about his wedding. Waller had kept that wedding with Las Vegas Aces star Kelsey Plum a secret before McDaniels spilled the beans. The Raiders then traded Waller to the Giants 10 days after that wedding.
Diggs commented on the matter, saying, "Patriot Way." Slay then commented on that tweet, saying, "Im trying to tell ya lol but hey people thought I was tripping and didn't like being [coached]!"
That was the tweet which inspired Harris to tap the retweet button.
Slay played in Detroit when Matt Patricia was head coach of the Lions, and the veteran cornerback had some not-so-nice things to say about his former coach when speaking before the Super Bowl this year.
"I mean, it was weird how he came in like he was just bigger and better than all of us," Slay said, noting that he didn't appreciate the "disrespect" that came from Patricia. "He acted like we asked to be here. You know, we do get selected. That was crazy. That was a first."
Back in 2020, Slay explained two specific incidents with Patricia that led to a fractured relationship.
"Yeah, right there, after that, that's when all my respect went out the door for him. As a man," Slay said in 2020.
Patricia -- a defensive coach for almost the entirety of his career -- was of course tabbed to run the Patriots' offense in 2022, an experiment by Bill Belichick which failed miserably. The Patriots had the 26th-ranked offense, the 24th-ranked rushing offense, the 27th-ranked third-down offense, and the absolute worst red zone offense in the entire NFL. As a result, he won't be coaching the Patriots' offense anymore.
Harris, like most of his teammates, suffered the consequences of that coaching decision. His rushing yards dropped from 929 in 2021 to 462 in 2022, and his touchdowns went from 15 to just three. Injuries contributed to that drop, as did the rise of Rhamondre Stevenson. But Harris' value took a sizeable hit with that down season before free agency.
Because of that, it seemed reasonable to expect Harris to be a candidate to return to New England on a one-year deal at a reasonable rate before trying the free-agent market again next year. While a retweet wouldn't prevent that from happening, it seems as though Harris at the very least is left with some stinging bitterness from the past year in New England.
