14. Shelby Harris, DL, Denver Broncos
After starting his career out in Oakland with the Raiders, Shelby Harris joined the Denver Broncos prior to the 2017 and started piecing together some solid seasons of work with the Broncos. Back in 2017 the big nose tackle posted six sacks, which was at that time a career-high for him, and generated 19 total quarterback pressures. He also added 23 total tackles as well.
Last year Harris saw a career-high in snaps, seeing 636 for the Broncos, and he tied that career-high mark of sacks with six more for Denver while adding 28 total quarterback pressures, his new career best mark. He also had 31 total tackles, another career high.
If you want to see an example of what Harris can do in the interior, watch the first play in the second clip linked here:
Back-to-back plays of #BroncosCountry defenders winning with one-arm. First, Shelby Harris one-arm stacking & resetting the LOS vs. Britt, then Chubb one-arm bull rushing Brown into the ground: pic.twitter.com/hbKeL3j1o7
— Brandon Thorn (@BrandonThornNFL) September 12, 2018
Harris starts the play by aligning in one A-Gap, but at the snap he slants into the opposite A-Gap to attack the center and the right guard. But he is able to “one-arm” the center with his right arm while keeping his eyes in the backfield to read the action. Then he drives the center back into the pocket – with just the right arm – while scraping over to help on the tackle of the running back behind the line of scrimmage for a loss. Impressive power and execution from the big nose tackle.
There are two teams to keep in mind when thinking about Harris, teams that lost similar players already in free agency: The Houston Texans (who lost D.J. Reader) and the Pittsburgh Steelers (who lost Javon Hargrave).