The Patriots have added a linebacker Bill Belichick called “the best special teams player we’ll play against all year” on a hefty contract, Chris Mason of Masslive reports.

According to NFL Network, New England signed free agent Chris Board to a two-year deal worth up to $6.7 million. Board spent the first four years of his career with the Ravens and last season with the Lions. The 230-pound 27-year-old racked up 21 tackles in Detroit in 2022.

It was before an October date with the Lions that Belichick raved about Board in two separate press conferences.

“He’s a very hard guy to matchup against,” Belichick said. “The size matchup is a problem for the faster lighter guys. The speed matchup is a hard matchup for the bigger guys who don’t run as well as he does. He has a great combination of size and speed as well as experience, instincts, and techniques. It’s all of the above. There are really no weaknesses in the player. You’ve got to figure out how to deal with him. He’s seen everything. He’s seen everything. But it’s different than just dealing with a big-sized player or just a speed player, whatever he is, 2 and a quarter (pounds) or whatever it is. He plays at least all of that if not more. He looks like he’s more like 245 pounds out there to tell you the truth, but I don’t think he weighs that much."

“But he’s a thumper. He’s a very physical player. He runs well. He’s very instinctive. So it doesn’t matter who’s on him, it’s a tough matchup. If you start double teaming than everybody else is singled. You might solve one problem but you might create multiple other ones, too. You have to figure out how to handle it. He creates a lot of problems and then it all kind of rolls downhill from there.”

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