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Deonte Harris was sensational for the New Orleans Saints in his rookie season, leading the NFL in punt returns (36) and punt return yards (338) before earning recognition on the All-Pro list and a trip to the Pro Bowl. And he’s gotten even better in his second season.
First, let’s focus on the return game. Teams haven’t given Harris many opportunities to field punts (not helped the Saints defense being mediocre on third down), but he’s still averaging 26.5 punt return yards per game. That’s a step up from 2019, when he averaged 24.1. As the Saints improve on defense and force teams to punt more often, Harris should only get more chances to make a play in the kicking game. He’s on pace to rack up 424 punt return yards over 16 games.
Still, right now he has the second-most punt return yards in the NFL (106), behind Buffalo Bills return man Andre Roberts (124). He’s tenth in kick return yards (156), but Harris and Roberts (104) are the only NFL players with 100-plus return yards on both punts and kicks.
Harris has been more pedestrian on kickoffs, averaging 26.0 yards a pop on 6 kicks returned through the first four weeks. Last year, he averaged just 26.8 yards per kick return. But that isn’t a huge difference and could swing upwards with just one long return.
But the really impressive story here is on offense. Last season, Harris totaled just 55 yards from scrimmage during the regular season. He’s already eclipsed that with 85 scrimmage yards after four games in 2020. That projects to a total of 340 yards of offense, extrapolated over a 16-game season.
The Saints are still finding ways to get him the ball. Harris has been thrown to a few times on conventional wide receiver routes, but he’s also handled a few sweeps, pitches, and screens. Like Alvin Kamara, he’s patient with the ball in his hands and has a talent for anticipating how the play will develop. But Harris has enough muscle on his 5-foot-6, 170-pound frame to move the pile and enough agility to force a missed tackle for extra yards.
He did exit Week 4’s win over the Detroit Lions late with an injury, but The Athletic’s Katherine Terrell reported that it isn’t believed to be a serious issue. The Saints will have an extra day of rest before they play the Los Angeles Chargers on “Monday Night Football” before their bye week, so he should be expected to make more plays when the Saints return to the Superdome.
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