FOXBOROUGH, Mass. - The New England Patriots released linebackers Rosevelt Colvin and Oscar Lua today.
Rosevelt Colvin, 30, has played in 117 career games with 75 starts over nine NFL seasons with the Chicago Bears (1999-2002) and the Patriots (2003-07). Colvin's career statistics include 414 tackles (293 solo), 52.5 sacks, three interceptions, 18 passes defensed, 13 forced fumbles and nine fumble recoveries. His 52.5 career sacks rank fifth among all active NFL linebackers.
The 6-foot-3-inch, 250-pound linebacker was signed by the Patriots as an unrestricted free agent on March 11, 2003. Over five seasons with New England, Colvin has played in 61 games with 39 starts and recorded 203 tackles (136 solo), including 26.5 sacks, one interception, eight passes defensed, six forced fumbles and four fumble recoveries. In 2007, he started 10 of the season's first 11 games and totaled 28 tackles, four sacks and an interception before being placed on the reserve/injured list with a foot injury. He scored his first career touchdown on Oct. 28, 2007, when he returned a fumble 16 yards against the Washington Redskins.
The Indianapolis native led the Patriots with 8.5 sacks in 2006 and also paced the team with 7.0 sacks in 2005. In 2006, Colvin started 15 of 16 games and totaled 26 quarterback hits, a total that was double the next highest on the team. In 2005, he played in every game and started the final 11 contests while finishing fourth on the team with 73 tackles, the second highest total of his career. He played in all 16 games in 2004 and totaled 38 tackles (20 solo), including five sacks. In his first season in New England in 2003, he started the first two games and had two sacks before suffering a season-ending hip injury at Philadelphia on Sept. 14.
Colvin spent the first four seasons of his professional career with Chicago after being selected by the Bears in the fourth round (111th overall) of the 1999 NFL Draft out of Purdue. He led the Bears with 10.5 sacks in both 2001 and 2002, becoming the first Chicago player in more than a decade (and the only linebacker in team history) to have a double-digit sack total in consecutive seasons.
Oscar Lua, 23, was selected by the Patriots in the seventh round (211th overall) of the 2007 NFL Draft out of the University of Southern California. The 6-foot-1-inch, 240-pound linebacker was placed on the reserve/injured list on Sept. 1, 2007 with a knee injury and missed his rookie season.
