One of the top Detroit Lions performers from the Week 15 win over the Arizona Cardinals was defensive back Will Harris. His debut performance as an outside cornerback offered some real positives for a player who has struggled for most of his three seasons in Detroit.
Harris has been a starting safety for most of the last three seasons since being a third-round draft pick in 2019. While he’s shown athletic ability and the occasional big play, Harris has largely been a big disappointment as a starter on the back end.
Sunday’s performance offers a glimpse of how Harris’ future in Detroit might play out. Forced into emergency duty at outside cornerback due to a COVID-19 outbreak and myriad injuries, Harris acquitted himself nicely. He even made a fantastic play in breaking up a Kyler Murray pass into the end zone.
Coach Dan Campbell was rightly proud of Harris and his adverse circumstances.
“Listen, I thought he played pretty good and probably one of the biggest things is knowing that this is your first start at corner and you go out there, his name really didn’t come up,” Campbell said Monday. “And so, I think that’s a major positive and we didn’t talk about this guy getting put in a bind or getting exploited or anything like that. I just thought he went in there and battled.”
Campbell also offered some insight into how the team might view Harris for the rest of 2021 and also the 2022 season. Harris has one year left on his 4-year contract at an affordable cap hit of $1.23 million. The budget-friendly deal means Harris will get a chance to prove he fits somewhere in the Lions defensive plans. But where might that be?
“Look, we talk about Will a lot, just everything, from safety to nickel to now all of a sudden he’s a corner,” Campbell said. “Look, have we just dove in-depth like we will when the season is done? No, we haven’t. But yet, – and I know this, he was one of the first names that popped in our heads when it was about, ‘Well, who’s going to play corner for us now that all of our guys are out?’ And so, it was like, ‘Hey, let’s give it a go.’ But no, let’s see how this thing goes. And, the funny thing here is we wouldn’t have known that had – we wouldn’t have known any of this had it not been for the injuries and the COVID. So, that is I guess a little bit of silver lining is, ‘Well, who knows? Maybe this guy is a corner. Maybe he is a nickel or maybe he’s a jack of all trades.”
Campbell’s stream of consciousness extrapolation hints that Harris’ future might be as the utility defensive back. He could be the No. 4 safety, the No. 4 outside CB, the backup slot CB all in one athletically capable package. As this season has proven, that role would keep Harris quite busy and involved on game days, but in a less critical position than being a starter.
That kind of versatility with experience in the system and a proven good teammate can open up options for the Lions to, say, carry an extra running back or linebacker on the active roster instead of devoting multiple spots to reserves in the secondary. It’s something to keep in mind for the offseason.
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