Tag: Will Harris

Studs and Duds from the Lions big win over the Panthers

Here are this week’s Detroit Lions Studs and Duds with their Week 5 over the Carolina Panthers bringing their record to 4-1 for the season

The Detroit Lions got their revenge after a devastating loss to the Carolina Panthers last year by defeating them at home with a score of 42-24. This win brought the Lions’ record to 4-1 for the season.

They surely had this game marked on their calendar, knowing they had to make up for last year’s loss, which essentially knocked them out of the playoffs. Despite missing some key players on offense, including Amon-Ra St. Brown and Jahmyr Gibbs, the Lions’ offense did not seem to miss a beat, while their defense continued to put on a strong performance, making Bryce Young very uncomfortable. With their fourth win this season, the Lions are in complete control of the NFC North.

The Lions put on an impressive performance against the Panthers, but there are still some areas where they need to improve. Here are this week’s Lions Studs and Duds for their victory over the Panthers.

Studs and Duds for the Lions preseason win against the Panthers

With the preseason in the books, here are this week’s Studs and Duds for the Detroit Lions preseason victory over the Carolina Panthers

The Detroit Lions have wrapped up their preseason with a 26-17 victory over the Carolina Panthers. As most of the Lions’ top players sat out, the coaches and management had the opportunity to closely observe the players who are on the brink of making the final roster. It will be intriguing to see which players the Lions choose, as many of them performed exceptionally well, making the decisions more difficult. Unfortunately, some players did not perform at their best and may have fallen behind in the roster selection.

Here are the Studs and Duds for the Lions in their preseason win against the Panthers.

Lions vs Giants: Best and worst PFF grades from Detroit’s preseason win

Here are the standout performances from this week’s best and worst PFF performers for the Detroit Lions against the New York Giants.

The Detroit Lions kicked off their season with a 21-16 victory over the New York Giants in their first preseason game. Despite many of the team’s key players sitting out, the Lions’ management was able to evaluate potential roster candidates.

The game started off slowly, with the offense struggling, but the defense saved the day by repeatedly stepping up to the challenge and shutting down their opponents. Although some areas showed promise, others may require further evaluation by the Lions’ management.

Here are the standout performances from this week’s best and worst Pro Footbal Focus (PFF) performers, highlighting those who impressed and those who fell short in their bid for a coveted roster spot.

Lions stock report: Which players rose and which fell in the preseason opener

Detroit Lions stock report: Which players rose and which fell in the preseason opener

Preseason games are about player evaluation and opportunity. Sure, it’s great that the Detroit Lions beat the New York Giants on Friday night in the exhibition opener. However, the preseason contest was much more important in giving Lions players chances to raise their stock with the team.

Some players succeeded, while others squandered chances to help themselves make the final 53-man roster. Here’s who stood out for helping themselves and also which players did not in Detroit’s 21-16 win.

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Madden NFL 24 ratings for the Detroit Lions secondary

Quite a few changes in the Lions secondary and the Madden ’24 ratings seem to like the changes

The secondary for the Detroit Lions is going to look much different than it did a year ago. Players such as Jeff Okudah, Amani Oruwariye and DeShon Elliot are now gone and have been replaced with players such as Cameron Sutton, Emmanuel Moseley and C.J. Gardner-Johnson.

It’s been no secret that the Lions secondary has been somewhat of a liability for a while now. However, they look to be better on paper now with players such as Sutton and Moseley on the roster.

Last season, Sutton had three interceptions and 15 pass deflections. It was a career year for the six-year veteran. He’ll transition his career to the Lions as one of their top cornerbacks. In Madden ’24, he earned a rating of 77 overall. That’s the same rating that was given to Emmanuel Moseley. For Moseley, he had 5 pass deflections and an interception before tearing his ACL last season. If healthy, both players should be the top options for the perimeter of the Lions’ defense.

Above is the rest of the cornerback rankings for Detroit. Surprisingly, Will Harris is rated much higher than Jerry Jacobs. For Harris, he did have the best year of his career in 2022 while earning 68% of his defensive snaps at nickel. He earned 10 starts on the season and his PFF grade of 63.7 was 66th best out of 235 corners in the NFL.

As for Jacobs, he logged 8 pass deflections and an interception last season. While his 55.8 overall grade from PFF is lower than Harris’, it’s worth noting that Jacobs tore his ACL in week 14 of the 2021 season. He spent the start of the 2022 season on the reserve/PUP list. There’s potential for Jacobs to take snaps from Harris this season, if healthy.

The fastest cornerback on the roster is a tie between Khalil Dorsey and Jarren Williams. Both players are listed with 93 speed for the video game. That could be noteworthy when you’re running a kick-off or punt and need a speedster to get down and make a tackle.

Speaking of tackling, the hardest hitter in the Lions secondary is rookie defensive back Brian Branch. He earned an 86 rating for hit power. As for the rest of the safeties, the top-rated safety is C.J. Gardner-Johnson with an 84 overall rating.

The next closest to Gardner-Johnson are free safeties Kerby Joseph and Tracy Walker. It shouldn’t be surprising to see Joseph have such a rise up the rankings after posting 82 tackles, 8 pass breakups and four interceptions as a rookie.

For Walker, there’s potential for him to emerge as a starter in the video game and on the field in real life. He’s coming back from a torn Achilles and much of what we’ve seen through social media is that he looks to be 100% healthy or close to it.

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As for the rest of the safeties, it’s somewhat surprising to see Brian Branch listed as one. Especially since it seemed like the Lions drafted him to play cornerback. On my draft board for the 2023 NFL Draft, I had Branch listed as my top safety. With a 75 overall rating, Branch is the highest-rated rookie safety in Madden ’24.

Each day that passes, EA Sports releases a new set of rankings for each position group. With these rankings of the Lions secondary, there’s plenty to feel good about with how deep the Lions are at with the safety position. Meanwhile, they’ve got more consistency at cornerback this year than they have in the past. It’ll be fun to see how this group gels in Madden ’24 and for the upcoming season.

Chargers re-shuffle coaching staff ahead of 2023 NFL draft

The Chargers announced two new hires and two promotions on their coaching staff on Wednesday.

The Chargers announced two additions to their coaching staff on Wednesday as well as two promotions. The team officially hired former Georgia Southern defensive coordinator Will Harris as an assistant secondary coach and Phil Serchia as an offensive assistant.

Harris was a standout at the collegiate level, helping to guide Georgia Southern to a 6-7 record last season despite adversity within the program. Serchia, on the other hand, is far less established, having coached last at Hutchinson Community College in Hutchinson, Kansas for the last three seasons.

In addition to the new hires, Mike Hiestand and John Timu were promoted to new positions as returning staff from last season. Hiestand will serve as the Chargers’ front-seven specialist on defense after previously coaching the team’s offense, and Timu is set to take over as an assistant defensive line coach.

These changes could prove to be critical moves as Los Angeles starts readying itself for their offseason program this spring, and should help as the team moves into the training camp and preseason processes later in the summer. How exactly each of these coaches will function within the team is, to this point, unknown, though head coach Brandon Staley certainly seems to have a clear direction for his staff as he looks to help the Chargers bounce back from a brutal end to their 2022 season.

Lions officially re-sign CB Will Harris with the veteran salary benefit

Lions officially re-sign CB Will Harris with the veteran salary benefit, which allows the team to pay him more than his salary cap hit

The Detroit Lions have made the reported news official. The team has re-signed cornerback Will Harris to a one-year deal.

The terms of the deal are a little complicated. Harris re-signed with the Lions using a contractual device known as the veteran salary benefit. Basically, it allows the Lions to pay Harris the fully guaranteed $2.58 million contract for one year, but only count $1,317,500 against the Lions’ salary cap.

The best explanation for the veteran salary benefit comes from Russell Street Report,

The Veteran Salary Benefit (VSB) rule was created by the 2020 CBA and replaced the old Minimum Salary Benefit (MSB) Rule. These rules were put in place to allow veteran players to be signed to Cap-friendly deals instead of being replaced by cheaper, more Cap-friendly, younger players. The Veteran Salary Benefit allows veteran players to be signed to 1-year contracts with the applicable minimum salary (based on the player’s service time) and a small signing bonus ($152,500 in 2022), but only have to count that player at the salary level of a player with only 2 years of service time (plus the bonus).

In effect, Harris was able to sign for nearly double the amount that will be billed to the Lions’ salary cap accounting. Had he signed with another team, he wouldn’t have been able to get that benefit.

The Lions had two free agents who were eligible for the benefit, Harris and EDGE Austin Bryant. Because the Lions used it on Harris, Bryant is ineligible to get it. Bryant remains unsigned.

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CB Will Harris is expected to return to the Lions

CB Will Harris is expected to return to the Lions on a one-year deal

The cornerback room in Detroit is quickly starting to get crowded. After agreeing to assign free agents Cameron Sutton and Emmanuel Moseley, the Lions are set to bring back veteran Will Harris for another season.

Dave Birkett of the Free Press noted the Lions are expected to re-sign Harris for a one-year contract. Nothing is officially signed, but there has been no reports of Harris seeking to sign anywhere else. The 27-year-old is an unrestricted free agent after four seasons in Detroit.

Harris transitioned from safety to cornerback in 2022 and emerged as the team’s slot option late in the season. He started 10 games and notched 57 total tackles as well as picking off the first interception of his career.

Harris is eligible to return to the Lions on the Veteran Salary Benefit. It’s a relatively new feature to the NFL’s salary cap that allows veterans to re-sign with a team at a minimum level and not cost as much against the salary cap as an outside player would for the same salary. It would make sense for Detroit to use veteran’s exception with Harris.

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Report: Chargers hiring Will Harris as assistant secondary coach

Brandon Staley continues to add to his staff.

Brandon Staley continues to add to his staff.

Following the departure of Renaldo Hill, who left for a job with the Dolphins, and the promotion of defensive backs coach Derrick Ansley to defensive coordinator, the Chargers had an opening in the secondary. Tom Donatell was elevated to pass game coordinator/defensive backs coach around the same time as Ansley, but most teams employ both a pass game coordinator as well as a dedicated secondary coach.

As of Friday, the Chargers reportedly have found that secondary coach: Georgia Southern defensive coordinator Will Harris, according to On3’s Matt Zenitz. Zenitz initially reported that Harris would be LA’s defensive backs coach before clarifying that he is expected to become the Chargers’ assistant secondary coach.

At Georgia Southern, Harris’ defense forced 15 red zone stops, second in the country. He also coached CB Derrick Canteen, who was projected to be a mid-round pick before transferring to Virginia Tech. Prior to coordinating the Eagles’ defense, Harris was the defensive backs coach at Washington, where he coached Chiefs CB Trent McDuffie, Bears CB Kyler Gordon, Titans CB Elijah Molden, Cardinals CB Byron Murphy Jr., Patriots CB Myles Bryant, and Rams S Taylor Rapp.

Harris has also coached NFL defensive backs Andre Chachere during his time at San Jose State, so his reputation as a developer of talent precedes him into the NFL. A safety under Pete Carroll at USC from 2005-09, Harris had 113 tackles and six interceptions in his career as a Trojan before going undrafted in 2010.

Aidan Hutchinson among 6 Lions missing practice on Thursday

Hutchinson was one of three Lions who sat out Thursday’s session with an illness

After a relatively light injury report on Wednesday to start Week 15, the Detroit Lions added a few more names to the list of players sitting out practice on Thursday. The most prominent of those new additions is standout rookie DE Aidan Hutchinson.

Hutchinson missed the practice session with an illness, as did CB Mike Hughes and DE Michael Brockers. Last week saw an illness spread around the Lions locker room as well, but it is unknown if these are related.

The two players who sat out Wednesday’s walkthrough both remained out. OL Kayode Awosika (ankle) and LB Derrick Barnes (knee) are still out after missing all of last week as well. Fullback Jason Cabinda joined them on the sidelines with an ankle issue.

Slot CB Will Harris (hip) and C Frank Ragnow (foot) remained limited participants. Ragnow has played through the ongoing foot injury all season.

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