Boston Sports Then and Now

Junior Seau is back with the New England Patriots.

A move that had become increasingly expected in recent days finally became official on Wednesday when 40-year-old Junior Seau re-signed with the New England Patriots.

While Seau is a sure-fire Hall of Famer and has appeared in 12 Pro Bowls, it has been many years since he has been among the elite of the game. His last appearance in the Pro Bowl was in 2002, the final of his 13 seasons with the San Diego Chargers.

He then spent three seasons with the Miami Dolphins before being released in the spring of 2006. He signed a ceremonial contract with the Chargers and announced his first retirement on August 14, 2006.

After just four days, Seau decided retirement wasn’t for him and signed with the New England Patriots. He started 10 games before breaking his forearm making a tackle and missing the remainder of the season.

In 2007, Seau played in all 16 games for the first time since 2001 and his 3.5 sacks were his highest total since the 2000 season. He also registered 58 tackles as the Patriots came within seconds of finishing the season undefeated.

Seau was out of the league to start the 2008 season, but his second hiatus also proved to be short-lived as he returned to the Patriots for the final four games of the 2008 season.

It looked as if Seau was finally getting past football this year as he has been filming episodes of the new television show “Sports Jobs with Junior Seau”, which is slated to air on the Versus network later this fall. He has done everything from take on a rodeo bull to drive a hockey zamboni.

However, when appearing at a Boston Bruins game earlier this month, he raised the possibility of returning to the Patriots if needed.

Sure enough, the retirement of Tedy Bruschi, trade of Mike Vrabel and injury to Jerod Mayo have added up to the return of Seau to the Patriots.

New England is not getting the Pro Bowl caliber Seau, but they are getting a quality NFL veteran who still has the savvy to make big plays and can contribute to a talented, but short-handed defensive unit.

There is no charity in the NFL, so once Seau can no longer play at an NFL level, the Patriots will stop asking him back. However, as long as there is still gas in the tank, look for Seau to keep going out there and doing his best to help the Patriots.

He may have spent the last eight months fighting bulls and training for wrestling matches, but Seau is a football player and now he is back doing the only sports job that he really ever wanted.