Broncos' Harris Learned Defense Fast
By J. Michael Moore, DenverBroncos.com
(CBS4/DenverBroncos.com) ENGLEWOOD, Colo. Players who spend any time away from the game as free agents will always speak of how absence does, in fact, make the heart grow fonder.
Football isn't supposed to be easy, but floating around the waiver wire after being cut is particularly frustrating, especially for a player in the prime of his career.
But it's not until said player signs with a team that the real difficulties start.
Broncos safety Quentin Harris signed with the Broncos Nov. 21 after the team was forced to place Nick Ferguson on injured reserve. He was inked directly to the 53-man roster and has played in every game since getting fitted for jersey No. 31 in orange and blue.
It's great to be on a team, but it's a little strange when many new teammates learned all the basic plays and core concepts four months ago.
"It's extremely difficult," said Harris, a Pennsylvania native who has spent time with the Arizona Cardinals and New York Giants since entering the pros in May 2002. "It's something new for me because, when I went to college, I red-shirted. So, I had a little time to get acclimated. Rookie year, I got acclimated to the system because of rookie mini-camps and through mini-camps. Here, it's very difficult because the things that are in the play book are tweaked a little bit each week.
"You have to get the basic concepts down and that's tough, because you'll look and ask a question and then (you hear), 'Oh no, we're not doing that this week.'"
A common misconception is that the entire playbook gets drilled into a player's cerebrum in the first weeks of training camp. As Harris notes, such a notion simply isn't true. In reality, teams get new playbooks each week. The only thing that stays the same are the basic formations, a few key plays and the "way" the team goes about its game plan.
Harris credits players like John Lynch and Curome Cox for helping him through meetings and being patient with his questions as he picks up the Broncos system on the fly.
"You're sort of swimming," he said. "It's not that difficult but you really have to study. So, I'll go home and try to get what I can get out of it and come up with questions. I always come (to work) with questions.
"You swear you know it, but then you're wrong because (you realize), 'Oh no, the backs offset this way this week, so we're going to do it like this.'"
Harris made his Broncos debut on Thanksgiving night at Kansas City but did not record his first special-teams tackle until 10 days later against Seattle. He led the Cardinals in special teams tackles in 2005 (24) and 2004 (19) and has played in 57 NFL games with six starts at safety.
He signed with the Giants before the season, but was released on Sept. 2.
Harris played free safety at Syracuse and recorded 283 solo tackles, forced four fumbles and notched 10 interceptions as a three-year starter.
Of course, like all NFL players, his football education helped him long before he had sights of the pros. He has fallen back on that knowledge to help him through the early Broncos learning curve.
"Cover-three is cover-three, whether you're in New York, Arizona (or) Denver," Harris said. "Cover-four is cover-four. Cover-two is cover-two. There's basic concepts you have to know just to play at this level."
He'll keep learning in case the team needs him to contribute more on defense. That would be alright by Harris, who didn't expect a return trip to Arizona so quickly. His family -- wife, two kids and unborn child -- still live in the Valley of the Sun.
"I haven't seen them since I left," he said "Right after we played Kansas City I came back for two days and that was it."
Another case where absence makes the heart grow fonder.
