The first domino of the Broncos’ free agency plan has fallen, as the team has agreed to a three-year contract extension with star defensive lineman Shelby Harris, which will pay him $27 million.
Over the last two seasons, Harris has emerged as one of the best interior defensive linemen in the league. He’s a talented run-stopper and heavily affects the passing game, both through his pass-rushing and his rare ability to deflect passes at the line. Since 2019, Harris has generated 55 pressures, nine sacks, and has deflected 15 passes.
The move was vital for Denver, because if Harris departed the Broncos’ defensive line would have been in extremely rough shape. Dre’Mont Jones and Mike Purcell have proven to be above-average starters, to say the least, but alongside them the Broncos would have been left with either McTelvin Agim or DeShawn Williams starting and little-to-no depth behind them.
That would’ve been a disaster.
While signing Harris removes a lot of that pressure, the Broncos aren’t out of the woods yet as a lot of their depth pieces from 2020 are still up for grabs. They’ll likely either need to re-sign someone like DeMarcus Walker, or replace him through a mid-round draft pick.
According to Benjamin Allbright of 850KOA and Pro Football Network, this was an important move to repair damage to the locker room culture, which had occurred in recent seasons as Denver allowed their young stars to leave cash in elsewhere.
Shelby Harris and the impending Justin Simmoms deal are two the locker room was/are watching.
Internally, there had been sort of an "I'm playing for my big deal somewhere else" mentality over last few years due letting guys walk.
Important for Paton to reset that culture.
— Benjamin Allbright (@AllbrightNFL) March 15, 2021
This should be a consistent theme in the Paton era, based on what the new general manager said in his introductory press conference.
