When Shelby Harris sat down for a Zoom conference call with Denver-area media on Friday, he was loquacious, thoughtful, intelligent and quick with a smile — just as he usually is in those surroundings.
He was also relieved after getting past a bout with the novel coronavirus, which cost him four games and put him through the physical wringer.
“It was just waking up in a pool of sweat,” Harris said. “It was weird headaches and I just didn’t feel right. It was just weird. It was the weird nerve pain. For me, that was crazy.
“The only reason I say all this stuff is because we don’t know much about COVID. We need to be open about the experiences we have because more than likely people have been going through things that they may not realize are associated with COVID or not associated with COVID. No one is really talking about it. Usually, I’m not going to get into my health problems, but I feel like with COVID and everything going on, we have to be able to talk about this stuff.”
Harris did not have the harrowing experiences that many do with COVID-19 — even athletes in peak condition. He did not endure what National League MVP Freddie Freeman had last summer, when his fever spiked to 104.5 degrees Fahrenheit, leading him to pray, “Please don’t take me.” He didn’t have the experience of former teammate Emmanuel Sanders, who described himself as “loopy” as his fever repeatedly went beyond 102 degrees.
“For me, my only symptoms were I had the chills and the cold sweats for a day or two and I was pretty much fine,” Harris said. It was really more the aftereffects that kind of got to me—just like weird nerve pains and stuff that was unexplainable. I’m telling you, that stuff was just crazy. I’m just happy to be back and happy to be healthy — like really, truly happy to be healthy.”
And the Broncos are ecstatic to have Harris back. In the four games they played without him, they allowed an average of 159.0 rushing yards per game after surrendering 123.4 rushing yards per week in their first seven contests.
All Harris could do was watch.
“It sucks because I’m a competitor and I want to be out there with my team,” he said. “When you’re not out there, you feel like you’re letting your team down. There are games where I definitely felt like I could have helped. I’m not going to say we would have won, but there are definitely games where I felt I could have helped out as a competitor. When you see little things, it just frustrates you, especially when you know the play calls.”
At the same time, Harris saw progress from the Broncos’ fill-in defensive line, which played its last four games without all three of its intended starters, with Mike Purcell and Jurrell Casey already on injured reserve.
There was a silver lining to the cloud: time with his family. His wife and children also tested positive for COVID-19, but did so before his positive test. Their positive tests led Harris to quarantine in a local hotel.
When he tested positive, he went home.
“The toughest part was at the beginning when I wasn’t home,” he said. “I was really concerned obviously for my wife because she’s pregnant and when you’re pregnant you’re not allowed to really take a lot of medicine they try to give you. But there was a lot of concern for her and the baby and just making sure they were okay.”
As the days passed, Harris handled the bulk of his family’s household chores and found ways to enjoy the unexpected moments with nothing else to do and nowhere to go.
“I was lucky because I wasn’t really that sick. I was able to help out a lot more than usual. There’s one thing I really want to say, and this is the most important thing—the time I had off the last four weeks is some of the best time I’ve had in my life. The time I had with my family and my kids — that time is irreplaceable. To get that time during the season with my family and my kids, is time I’ll never forget.
“It wasn’t all bad. It was a great time because I watched my little girl turn into a toddler. I would take that over and over.”
Much like he has this season — in which he turned an unexpected return at a lower-than-desired contract figure into the best campaign of his career — Harris transformed an illness and quarantine that kept him sidelined for 25 percent of the season into something wonderful: an unexpected four weeks with his family.
With that ability to maximize any situation, the Broncos know that he’ll get the most out of the limited number of snaps he is expected to play Sunday as he works his way back into playing shape.
“The conditioning thing is real. I haven’t done really anything in four weeks, so it’s just really about getting back in shape and going out there and trying to play as much as you can 100 percent at a time,” he said. So, however many plays that is, you just want to make sure you go out there going 100 percent every play.”
