FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – The New England Patriots signed first-year safety Scott Farley to their practice squad today. New England's practice squad is now at its full compliment of eight players after having consisted of seven players since safety Curry Burns was signed to the New York Giants' active roster on Oct. 6.
Farley, 24, was originally signed by the Patriots as an undrafted free agent on May 9, 2003. The 6-foot, 212-pound native of Williamstown, Mass. played for the Berlin Thunder of NFL Europe in the spring of 2004. Farley played in all 10 of Berlin's regular-season contests with six starts at safety and finished the NFL Europe campaign with 34 tackles (26 solo), four passes defensed, an interception and a fumble recovery. He was selected by his teammates to be the Thunder's special teams captain for World Bowl XII, which Berlin won, 30-24.
Following his initial signing with New England in the spring of 2003, Farley was waived on July 28, 2003 and spent the remainder of last season out of football. He was re-signed by the Patriots on Feb. 6, 2004 and allocated to NFL Europe. Farley returned from Europe to play in all four preseason games for New England, recording five solo tackles and a pair of special teams stops. The Patriots released the Williams College graduate on Sept. 3, 2004, two days prior to this season's final roster cutdown date.
