Chris Harris Jr. Is Heart of Denver Broncos' Revamped Defense

When you think about cornerbacks who are the heart and soul of their defense, only one name comes to mind for most people—Richard Sherman. The Legion of Boom wouldn’t be the same without its loudmouth.

Expand the criterion to include all the best cornerbacks in the game, and the list might include names like Darrelle Revis, Aqib Talib, Patrick Peterson, Vontae Davis and Desmond Trufant. Sometimes those players deserve to be on the list, but other times they get by on superlatives.

A player who truly deserves to be on both lists is Denver Broncos cornerback Chris Harris Jr. Not only is Harris possibly the best cover cornerback in the league today, but he’s the heart and soul of his defense.

Harris is Nick Fury and Talib, rookie Bradley Roby, strong safety T.J. Ward and free safety Rahim Moore are his Howling Commandos. Together with the rest of the defense, they are quarterback Peyton Manning’s Super Bowl Avengers, out to stop the evil forces that have thwarted Manning in the playoffs.

Harris went undrafted in 2011 and tore his ACL last January.

Not only was he ready to play nine months later, but he is playing arguably better than anyone at a position that requires cutting, twisting and turning of the highest order.

Few players have had to overcome adversity more than Harris. He’s not an elite talent athletically, but he plays with impeccable technique, intelligence and instinct. He outworks players with twice the talent.

It wouldn’t be a stretch to call Harris the most underrated player in the game today. NFL analysts don’t mention Harris as one of the best cornerbacks in the league or even mention him when talking about the best players on Denver’s defense.

It’s always defensive end DeMarcus Ware, Von Miller, Ward and then Harris if he’s lucky.

Harris will be a free agent next year and yet most only mention Miller, wide receiver Demaryius Thomas and tight end Julius Thomas as players the Broncos desperately need to re-sign.

Based purely on athletic talent, that makes sense. Based on heart and skill, Harris should be the first one signed.

Just how good is Harris?

So far this season, Harris has allowed a league-best catch rate of 43.6 percent and registered league-high seven passes defensed, according to Pro Football Focus (subscription required). He also has the site's second-best overall grade, top coverage grade and has held opposing offenses to an NFL QB Rating of 40.5 in his direction, the second-lowest of all qualified cornerbacks.

Player	Targets	Receptions	TDs	INTs
Player	NFL QB Rating	Cover Snaps/Target	Yards/Target	Cover Snap/Reception
Harris	39	17	1	2
Sherman	29	16	1	0
Revis	38	21	1	2
Harris	40.5 (2)	7.2 (14)	.50 (1)	16.5 (2)
Sherman	95.0 (42)	8.5 (1)	1.00 (12)	15.4 (3)
Revis	65.9 (9)	7.3 (10)	1.01 (13)	13.2 (10)

Officially, the NFL has Harris with two interceptions and 11 passes defensed—the latter tied for second in the league. Harris is two interceptions and two passes defensed from his career highs, and there are still nine games to play.

Harris is also gaining the respect of opponents, even if the media hasn’t caught up.

He’s been targeted the same number of times as Revis on three more coverage snaps. He’s 14th in the league in cover snaps per target, a category led by Sherman.

In terms of production, even opponents may be a little slow to give Harris the respect he deserves. He's second in the league in coverage snaps per reception, just ahead of Sherman and just behind Davis.

Even when Harris does allow a reception, he’s there to make the tackle. He has allowed a league-best 0.50 yards per coverage snap and is one of 11 qualified cornerbacks who haven’t missed a single tackle this season.

Lest you think Harris is dominating inferior competition, consider that he’s intercepted Philip Rivers and Russell Wilson. Harris has played a big role in shutting down Larry Fitzgerald, T.Y. Hilton, Percy Harvin and Dwayne Bowe, among others.

Opponent	Targets	Receptions	TD	INT	PD	QB Rating
IND	6	2	0	0	2	42.4
KC	5	3	0	0	1	85.4
@SEA	6	4	0	1	0	34.7
AZ	7	0	0	0	4	39.6
@NYJ	3	1	0	0	0	47.9
SF	5	2	0	0	0	47.9
SD	7	5	1	1	0	84.8

Harris allowed just two receptions for 16 yards against Andrew Luck and the Indianapolis Colts, with two passes defensed on six targets in his first game back from his ACL injury.

Harris allowed just one reception for seven yards to Hilton, the NFL leader in receiving yards with 866. Harris helped limit Hilton to just 41 yards, his lowest output of the season.

The longest reception Harris has allowed this season is a 22-yard juggling catch by Kansas City Chiefs tight end Anthony Fasano in Week 2. It’s the only reception over 20 yards Harris has allowed, and there’s no way to know if it was even his coverage assignment. The Broncos were in a Cover 3 look, but it could have easily been Cover 3 Cloud coverage in which Ward was supposed to be the one with deep coverage.

Harris has allowed one touchdown this season after allowing just one last season to Julian Edelman of the New England Patriots—whom the Broncos just happen to be playing this Sunday. Harris’ only negative grade last season came against the Patriots, mostly due to his poor work supporting the run.

Harris will be looking forward to redemption Sunday. It’s going to be a tough game to win on the road, but if the Broncos do win, you can bet that Harris is going to be a big reason why.

“Since I’ve been here, we’ve never won (in New England),” Harris told reporters on Monday. “I want to win in New England. It’s on a list of things I haven’t accomplished.”

The Broncos beat the Patriots 26-16 at home in the playoffs last year, but Harris had just torn his ACL and didn’t play. Future Hall of Fame cornerback Champ Bailey played in his place and had one of the more memorable games of his career.

It’s Harris—not 2013 third-round pick Kayvon Webster—who has taken the torch passed by a recently retired Bailey. Harris credits Bailey with helping him develop as a young player.

“It was a privilege to sit next to him, to practice next to him, to learn from him,” Harris told Jeff Legwold of ESPN.com. “He's a big part of the reason I'm here now. We all couldn't do what Champ could do, but we all could learn from what he knew."

Harris is clearly putting what Bailey taught him to good use. Harris isn’t as big, fast or long as Bailey was in the prime of his career, but he’s playing at that kind of level right now.

“Chris is probably the closest guy to taking the techniques that I used and putting it on the field,’’ Bailey told Legwold. “He’s probably the closest thing I’ve seen, he just understood it … he worked it and took it to another level. I’m really proud of him.’’

Sunday, Harris has a chance to do something Bailey did last year in relief of the injured Harris—beat quarterback Tom Brady and the Patriots.

This February, Harris might have to chance to do something Bailey never did—win a Super Bowl.

Unless otherwise noted, all statistics via Pro Football Focus (subscription required).