ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Please, says Shelby Harris, some perspective.
Now is not the time to live in self-serving vacuums.
Harris, the Broncos’ defensive end for going on four years, seemed to draw a mystifying bad hand in the free agent market that opened two weeks ago and is now nearing the close of business.
The New York Giants’ Leonard Williams had 0.5 sacks and 3 pass deflections in 2019 yet received a whopping $17.04 million franchise tag for 2020.
Harris had 6.0 sacks and a league-most 9 deflections among defensive linemen for the Broncos last season yet is returning on a one-year, $3.25 million deal.
Defensive tackle D.J. Reader got half of Harris’ sacks last year, yet signed a four-year deal worth $13.25 million. Did we mention Harris got one year and a tick above $3 million?
Asked to explain how his better production paid him considerably fewer dollars than his interior defensive linemen peers, Harris expanded the boundaries.
"At the end of the day, I’m just happy to have a job," Harris said in a conference call Friday with the Denver media. "There are millions of Americans who have lost their jobs because of this. I’d rather just focus on the fact that I have a job than — if you want to talk about numbers we should just be happy, we should just be blessed to be able to be employed and to have a job.
"It’s bigger than that right now. I think the important thing is that I do have a job. I’m able to provide for my family, but there are a lot of people who can’t. I’m not about to go out there and—I can’t get mad about how things happen with other people when there are so many people in the world and in America right now who can’t even say they have a job because they lost it because of the coronavirus. I’m just happy that I’m able to say that I have a job."
Which leads to another question – how much of Harris’ paycheck will be able to collect this year? The possibility of a contracted, or cancelled, NFL season, seems to be growing as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread across the country.
"I think eventually there will be. I just don’t know how much of it there will actually be of football," Harris said. "With training camp, obviously no vets like training camp. Obviously, you want to go out there and work, but you want to be safe.
"You want to do your part for the community just like they’re doing their part for us—social distancing and stuff. However long this needs to go, I’m all for it. It’s about the masses not just the single person. I’m worried about people bringing it to my grandma, bringing it to my mom, bringing it to my family.
"I just think the most important thing right now is just to focus on social distancing. Also I feel like we have to give out thanks out to the nurses and the doctors and the first responders and everyone who—and then everyone that has the essential jobs that really are out there putting their lives on the line just to make sure that we can kind of have our life continue as normal obviously everyone staying inside.
"There are literally people putting their lives and their family on the line so that we can somehow live. Out of respect for them, we have to do what’s best for the community and not try and rush anything."
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