Chris Harris Jr. has the best reason for why he's accepting his role in the slot

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Denver Broncos veteran cornerback Chris Harris Jr. may very well be the best in the league at his position. He can play anywhere on the field, he can match up against anyone from Antonio Brown to Rob Gronkowski and best of all, he rarely, rarely gets beat.

Yet, when it comes time to recognize the league’s best, it seems Harris is often being overlooked. Last season, he wasn’t even named to the Pro Bowl roster, let alone an All-Pro team.

Why? Well, to put in layman’s terms, quarterbacks are afraid of him. Of corners that were on the field for at 75 percent of the defensive snaps, only two players were thrown at less than the once-undrafted CB—Josh Norman and Prince Amukamara. Receivers covered by Harris were thrown at just 55 times—or less than 3.5 per game—and just 28 of those throws were completed.

On top of the fear, Harris believes one of the reasons he was avoided so obviously last season—the 55 targets was 29 fewer than any other season in his career—had to do with where he was positioned for much of the season, in the slot, where he was listed as the starter for 11 of the Broncos’ 16 games.

“That’s what it is. Playing in the slot, I think that really hurts me,” the best slot corner in the league said back in December, referring to why he’s overlooked when it comes to NFL honors. “It hurts me when it comes to things like this. I know I can go outside and have better numbers than I put up in the slot.”

Frustrated at the time, the former first-team All-Pro made a strong statement.

“I just see it as I don’t need to play the slot no more.”

It’s a fair request from a player who is equally effective regardless of where you put him, yet may have a chance to make bigger plays from the outside.

There’s just one problem. There’s only one Chris Harris Jr., something he now, reluctantly, realizes.

“I want to [play more outside] but I don’t think anybody can play my position,” he said with a laugh on Thursday afternoon. “I don’t think anybody can go in the slot and play straight man [coverage] and be asked to do what I’m asked to do, even in the league. What Joe Woods wants me to play in the slot and how I have to play man and be able to take them all over the field—nobody can do that. It’s looking like I’ll be inside for sure.”

He’s truly one of a kind. And he’s not wrong, especially on this team. In a cornerback room that now consists or Harris, Bradley Roby, Tramaine Brock, Brendan Langley and rookie Issac Yiadom, there is simply nobody that can play inside the way the seventh-year man can. The other two projected starters, Roby and Brock, are both simply better suited to play on the outside.

Now that he’s come to terms with his role and also worked on some techniques that he feels will allow him to jump more routes inside,  Harris has changed his tune.

“They’ve still got the three defensive backs,” he said of the All-Pro team. “I’ve gotten first-team All-Pro, getting it in the slot, so I can do it again.”

Challenge accepted.