New Atlanta Falcons starting safety Erik Harris‘ journey to the National Football League is one that is made for theaters. The odds of making it to the NFL are already astronomical when taking the conventional route. Add in more obstacles and dead ends, those odds begin to plummet even lower. However, Harris’ perseverance and grit helped him realize his dream.
After not receiving any offers to play football, Harris’ mom, Christine Higgins, took it upon herself to write a heartfelt letter to California University of Pennsylvania (CAL-PA). In an interview with The Athletic’s Vic Tafur in 2018, Higgins dove into why she sent the letter.
“Where he comes from and the struggles he had been through, just with me being a single parent and how much he helped out and watched his little brothers. I don’t know. I just felt he never got a fair shot. As hard as he worked, it seemed like he was getting overlooked. It was scary, because that’s all he ever dreamed about, was playing football”
Included with the three-page letter was Harris’ high school highlight film and clips of accolades from both track and football. CAL-PA eventually reached back out to Harris, to his mother’s shock, and while they didn’t offer him a scholarship, he was presented with the opportunity to walk on. His freshman season at CAL-PA saw Harris in a reserve role on defense but a prominent starter on special teams. His 14 tackles on special teams led the entire team.
His performance in 2008 was good enough to receive a scholarship worth $1500. The scholarships didn’t stop there as each season Harris saw more and more scholarships come in due to his play on the field.
| Year |
GP |
TKL |
TFL |
Sacks |
INT |
PD |
| 2008 |
12 |
15 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
| 2009 |
15 |
84 |
4.5 |
2 |
3 |
7 |
| 2010 |
12 |
61 |
5 |
1 |
3 |
6 |
| 2011 |
13 |
71 |
8.5 |
3 |
3 |
7 |
| Total |
52 |
231 |
18 |
6 |
9 |
22 |
After going undrafted in 2021, something that’s not uncommon for a vast majority of division two athletes, Harris failed to receive any camp invites. With no invites coming, Harris took up a summer job at Utz potato chip factory, the same place his mother once worked, where he worked long and grueling 11-hour days. While the new Falcons safety certainly doesn’t miss this job, he is rather thankful for it.
Harris discussed his time at Utz during his introductory press conference with the Falcons Monday afternoon.
“I worked above 600-degree ovens and it was about 110 degrees in there every day. I had to wear pants. So I would take 50-pound corn flower bags and dump it into a dry hopper. Send it up into a mixer. Mix it up. Pour it down to the fryers underneath of me. Did that for 11 hours a day for a whole summer. I do not miss that job, but I am thankful for that job.”
Once the summer ended, Harris went back to school to finish out his degree. He took off the spring semester of his senior season to prepare for the 2012 NFL draft. Harris also took up work at a local UPS warehouse where he eventually became a belt supervisor.
His first big break came after trying out for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the Canadian Football League. Harris would impress the Tiger-Cats enough to earn a three-year deal. While he began his CFL career making a difference on special teams, he eventually made his way up the depth chart into a starting role.
In 2014, Erik Harris made CFL history by being the first, and only, person to register an interception, sack, special teams tackle and an offensive touchdown. This all came in a game dedicated to his late father.
Despite putting up quality numbers in the CFL, his performances weren’t enough to land himself on the radar of any NFL teams. His Tiger-Cats teammate, Delvin Breaux, who was brought on to join the New Orleans Saints in 2015, lobbied for Harris at the conclusion of his CFL contract after the 2015 season. Breaux’s lobbying was deemed successful as Harris was eventually given a tryout, in which he received an offer that same day. This was also the first time Harris met former Saints scout and current Falcons general manager, Terry Fontenot.
Harris saw his first ever defensive snaps in the NFL against the Falcons in relief for starting safety Jairus Byrd. Those would be the only snaps Harris took with the Saints.
While Harris finally caught his lucky break that he longed for, the former Saints safety tore his ACL during a Saints practice following their Week 5 bye week. Harris posted on his Instagram following his injury.
“These types of things happen in life and it’s not my job to question why, but to look at what the purpose is. Never once has God been wrong or timing been off. I’m determined to come back better than before”
After the season, Harris was let go before eventually returning to the Saints just to be let go again before the regular season came around. However, to continue the trend, Harris was quickly picked up by the Raiders where he was once again a prominent member on special teams.
It wasn’t until 2018, seven years after being undrafted, that Harris finally obtained quality playing time on defense. After playing a limited role the first three weeks of 2019, Harris was finally promoted to starting safety.
While his first game as starter saw him pull down a pick-six for 30 yards, Harris’ claim to fame came against the Chargers on Thursday night. The Raiders safety recorded two interceptions for 115 return yards while taking one back to the end zone, and broke up three passes. To date, those are the only interceptions of his NFL career.
After starting 12 of his 14 games played in 2020, the Raiders eventually decided not to bring back Harris but let him walk in free agency. The Falcons signed Harris to a one-year deal worth $1.35 million.
While there’s no knowing how Harris will fare under Dean Pees, the journeyman will undoubtedly bring heart, perseverance, grit and ultimately leadership to this Falcons’ defense.
Atlanta is a team in transition and this was something Harris acknowledged on Monday. But he doesn’t see this as a negative, more of an opputrunity.
“People use the word rebuilding and they take it in a negative sense. I hear rebuilding and I hear opportunity.”
With the Falcons parting ways with all three starting safeties, it’s very likely Harris becomes a day-one starter in Atlanta.
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