When you consider Shelby Harris’ professional journey before he became a Bronco in January 2017, you can see why he would want stay with the team.
“Obviously, it would mean the world,” Harris said Tuesday. “My family loves Denver, I love Denver, and Denver’s done nothing but do right by me since I’ve been here.
“I love it here, but at the end of the day I understand it’s a business and so you got to be ready for everything … I’ve had two of my kids here, this is home for them, so obviously Denver is a special place for me.”
When you consider what Harris has done with the Broncos — especially in the last two seasons in Vic Fangio’s scheme — you can see why the Broncos should want him back.
Harris is a first-class disruptor on the interior of the defensive line. According to the data compiled by Pro Football Focus, he led the NFL in passes batted down at the line of scrimmage last year (8) and leads the league once again this year, with 7 — a tally accomplished in spite of missing four games.
But his work this year is all the more impressive considering that it came without some of the key players that were expected to take the focus off him. In a practice prior to Week 1, outside linebacker Von Miller succumbed to a season-ending foot injury. In Week 3, the Broncos lost Jurrell Casey to a torn biceps muscle. At midseason, nose tackle Mike Purcell suffered a lisfranc injury.
Harris was the last man standing among the first-teamers on the defensive line — and then he contracted COVID-19, sending him to the sideline for four games. When he returned in Week 13 at Kansas City, he appeared unaffected.
Whether you measure by bottom-line performance, quality of effort or burning intensity — which does occasionally bubble over — Harris is exactly the type of player every team wants.
“He’s a good run defender and probably our best inside pass rusher,” Fangio said earlier this month when discussing Harris’ return from his COVID-19 absence. “He was playing a good, complete, sound all-around game for us. Hustling, chasing plays.”
Then Harris returned and took his hustle to 11.
Although he was still working his way back into game shape when he returned against the Chiefs, he had enough energy in his still-recharging batteries to chase down Tyreek Hill, Kansas City’s light-speed wide receiver.
At age 29, a point at which many players are on the downside of their careers, Harris is playing the best football of his life — and he feels the best could be yet to come.
“Yeah, 100 percent. Honestly I feel like I’m just hitting my stride, and finally starting to get the confidence and feel from your team,” he said. “I’ve always had the confidence in myself, and I feel like my teammates have always had the confidence in me — I just kind of felt a little different this year. I felt like I had something to prove and I took that mindset into the offseason and I’m going to take that mindset into everything I do now.
“It’s just attack the day, just attack every day. I’m just realizing that that’s the mindset I should have every day.”
The final push for Harris’ quest to carpe his diems came in the wake of last spring’s free-agency period, when the massive, multi-year contract that many expected did not come to pass. After the first wave of free agency passed, he returned to the Broncos for another prove-it campaign on a one-year, $3.25-million deal.
“After free agency last year, I kind of just made it a point to myself — don’t ever get complacent,” he said. “Just go out there and work your tail off and whatever happens is going to happen. You just go out there and play your game, and so that’s just what I’ve been focusing on.”
Harris gave his best. But the Broncos also brought ought his best in a way that the Raiders, Jets and Cowboys did not.
“They gave me my first chance really in the league to go out there and really be a player and really believe in me and trust me to go out and do my job,” Harris said. “They’ve rewarded me with four extra years in the NFL, four years of playing for this great franchise.
“I’m forever grateful to Denver, but my biggest thing though is that it’s a business and so I understand. I just go and just play football.”
Harris’ focus remains on football. The business part, well, “that’s my agent’s job,” as he said.
But after Sunday’s season finale, the story will be about his future. He and the Broncos are a symbiotic match. Both benefit from being together.
It would be a shame if this beautiful partnership ended.
