Why Shelby Harris is grateful for his smaller-than-expected deal with the Broncos

DENVER — No free agent in NFL history ever hit the market in an environment quite like the one that exists today. Which is why Broncos defensive end Shelby Harris is focused on the actual blessings in his life, not what might have been on the open market.

After the best season of his career, Harris seemed poised for a big payday. Spotrac.com even projected his per-year market value at $12.3 million on a potential three-year, $37 million contract. While that may have been an overestimation, it was fair to expect Harris would get life-changing money.

But after he sat on the shelf in the first week of free agency, he ended up taking much less — and being thankful. In effect, he will play on a similar one-year, prove-it contract to the one he had in 2019.

“We can go back and forth about why this, why that. But at the end of the day, I’m just happy to have a job,” he said Friday. “There’s millions of Americans right now who have lost their jobs because of this. I’d rather just focus on the fact that I have a job than [if] you want to talk about numbers.

“At the end of the day, we should just be happy, be blessed to be able to be employed and to have a job. So it’s bigger than that right now. I just think that the important thing is that I do have a job, and I’m able to provide for my family, but there are a lot of people that can’t.

“I can’t get mad about how things happened when there are so many people in the world and in America right now who can’t even say that have a job, because they lost it because of the coronavirus. So I’m just happy that I’m able to say I have a job.”

And it’s a job in a place that Harris wanted to be. Once Harris moved to defensive end in Week 5 last season, he flourished in Vic Fangio’s defense. All six of his sacks and nine of his pass deflections came in the 12 games after he shifted from nose tackle.

“I feel like [the scheme] puts the defensive end in a lot of positions to make plays, and for me personally, I love paying 4-tech, which is a head up on the tackle,” Harris said. “I feel like it kind of fits my strong suits. And then when it’s a pass, you have to rush that 3-tech, that outside edge of the guard, it kind of gives you a good angle where you can start the pass rush. I just think the defense as a whole is a good defense and it puts everyone in position to make plays.”

Harris’ success in that role meant that when Fangio reached out last week, the gears were put into motion for Harris’ return.

“It made me feel wanted. I wanted to come back,” Harris said. “This was clearly my first choice of where to go, so just to feel wanted back, I was like, ‘Aw, yeah, I’ll do it.”

“Pretty much for me, it was about the fit. I always said I wanted to come back to Denver, so when that opportunity came up, I decided to jump on it. I feel like I can be a part of something special. I feel like this team has a chance to do something good and I feel like I can definitely help the team out.”

NOTES

HEUERMAN HELPED VANNETT ‘STEAK’ A CLAIM TO PLAYING TIME

New Broncos tight end Nick Vannett was a teammate of Jeff Heuerman’s at Ohio State before the Broncos selected Heuerman in the third round of the 2015 NFL Draft. But as the younger member of the pair, it was Vannett who relieved Heuerman during their last season together, which led to situations like the one that took place during a 2014 Buckeyes rout of Rutgers.

In that game, Vannett scored two touchdowns. Both of them came after Heuerman took himself off the field to catch his breath.

“I gave credit to him because it never would’ve happened if he didn’t come out of the game,” Vannett told The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer at the time. “We were joking about after the game. I told him I’d buy him a steak dinner.”

So … did Vannett ever actually pick up the check for that meal?

“I don’t know if I did immediately, but we definitely took care of each other in our time at Ohio State so I’m sure I made up for it some sort of way. I’m not sure if I got him the steak dinner, though” Vannett said.

Vannett added that Heuerman reached out to him and welcomed him to the Broncos — even though Vannett could threaten Heuerman’s playing time.

“We were pretty tight for the four years that we were there together,” Vannett said. “We always kept in touch here and there. I think we’re excited to be able to reunite, be in the same room again and just play football again with each other.”

HARRIS: “EVENTUALLY” THERE WILL BE A 2020 NFL SEASON

While Harris, like everyone else, is not sure what form the season will take, he believes that it will happen.

“I don’t now how much there actually will be of football,” Harris said. “Obviously, you want to go back out there & work, but you want to be safe.”

For Harris, that means staying at home, maintaining his condition in the gym that he set up in his basement and complying with shelter-in-place and social-distancing regulations.

“However long this thing goes, I’m all for it. It’s about the masses, not just the single person,” he said. “So I’m worried about things like people bringing it to my grandma, bringing it to my mom, bringing it to my family. So I just think the most important thing right now is to focus on social distancing. Also I think we have to give our thanks out to the nurses and the doctors and the first responders and then everyone that has the essential jobs that are out there putting their lives on the line just to make sure we can have our lives continue as normal.”

As for the circumstances of a return to some semblance of NFL normalcy, that will likely remain hazy for some time. Thursday, NFL chief medical officer Allen Sills told NFL.com’s Judy Battista that a potential return for the NFL and other sports is tied to the availability of COVID-19 tests.

“As long as we’re still in a place where when a single individual tests positive for the virus that you have to quarantine every single person who was in contact with them in any shape, form or fashion, then I don’t think you can begin to think about reopening a team sport,” Sills told NFL.com. “Because we’re going to have positive cases for a very long time.”