Erik Harris

Falcons Re-Sign DB Erik Harris

Erik Harris is returning to Atlanta for another season. The safety is re-signing with the Falcons, according to NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero (on Twitter). Harris is inking a one-year deal.

Harris signed a one-year deal with the Falcons last offseason and ended up starting all 12 of his games. Harris ended up collecting 64 tackles, 0.5 sacks, and eight passes defended while appearing in 84 percent of his team’s defensive snaps. The 31-year-old’s season ended early after he suffered a torn pectoral.

Following a brief stint with the Saints to start his NFL career, Harris had a four-year stint with the Raiders, starting 30 games. He had five interceptions between the 2018 and 2019 seasons.

The Falcons have been busy dealing with their secondary this offseason. The team has already signed Casey Hayward and re-signed Isaiah Oliver.

Minor NFL Transactions: 12/18/21

Today’s minor moves:

Arizona Cardinals

Atlanta Falcons

Baltimore Ravens

Carolina Panthers

Chicago Bears

Cincinnati Bengals

Cleveland Browns

Dallas Cowboys

Detroit Lions

Green Bay Packers

Houston Texans

Indianapolis Colts

Jacksonville Jaguars

Los Angeles Rams

Miami Dolphins

New England Patriots

New Orleans Saints

New York Giants

New York Jets

Pittsburgh Steelers

San Francisco 49ers

Tennessee Titans

Falcons’ Erik Harris Done For Year

Falcons safety Erik Harris will miss the rest of the year with a torn pectoral muscle (Twitter link via NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport). The Falcons will place Harris on the injured reserve list today or tomorrow in order to open up a spot on their 53-man roster. 

The chest injury forced Harris out in the first quarter of Sunday’s game against the Panthers. That left the Falcons extra thin at safety, since they were already without rookie Richie Grant. Despite that, the Falcons managed to beat the Panthers 29-21, thanks in part to the offensive contributions of Cordarrelle Patterson and Mike Davis.

Harris hasn’t been stellar this year, but he has posted 64 tackles and eight passes defended through 12 games. And, of course, the timing is terrible with the Falcons’ playoff hopes largely hinging on this week’s game against the Niners.

Harris, 32 in April, is scheduled for free agency in March after the expiration of his one-year, $1.35MM deal.

Falcons To Sign Erik Harris

Former Raiders safety Erik Harris is heading to the Falcons, according to Vic Tafur of The Athletic (on Twitter). Terms of the deal are not yet known. 

After spending his first season with the Saints, Harris found his way to Oakland in 2017. Since then, he’s spent the last four years with the Raiders, all the way through 2020 in Las Vegas. Playing primarily at free safety, he’s made 30 starts for the Raiders out of 61 total appearances. Harris, 31 in April, finished 2020 with 61 total stops, five passes defensed, and one forced fumble.

Harris will help Atlanta replace Ricardo Allen, who was cut recently to save $6.25MM against the cap. Safeties Damontae Kazee and Keanu Neal are also out of contract and seem likely to sign elsewhere. For now, that group is headlined by Harris and 2020 fourth-round pick Jaylinn Hawkins.

Minor NFL Transactions: 1/1/21

Here are the minor moves from New Year’s Day:

Baltimore Ravens

Buffalo Bills

  • Activated from reserve/COVID-19 list: WR John Brown

Dallas Cowboys

Las Vegas Raiders

Los Angeles Chargers

New England Patriots

Philadelphia Eagles

San Francisco 49ers

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Minor NFL Transactions: 12/21/20

We’ll keep track of today’s minor moves here:

Baltimore Ravens

Cincinnati Bengals

Houston Texans

Jacksonville Jaguars

Las Vegas Raiders

Los Angeles Chargers

Miami Dolphins

New York Giants

Pittsburgh Steelers

  • Promoted from practice squad: OL Danny Isidora
  • Waived: TE Kevin Rader

Seattle Seahawks

Washington Football Team

 

Bay Area Notes: Joseph, Joyner, McGlinchey

Given Jon Gruden‘s moves involving several other Reggie McKenzie-era high draft picks, and the Raiders‘ decisions this spring, it would appear Karl Joseph is not in the team’s long-term plans. The Raiders, who benched Joseph to start last season, did not pick up his fifth-year option and proceeded to sign Lamarcus Joyner before drafting Johnathan Abram in the first round. Nevertheless, Joseph is not planning (at least publicly) for a 2020 free agency foray.

Obviously I want to be here, I’ve expressed that already with Coach Gruden and (Mike) Mayock,” Joseph said, via Scott Bair of NBC Sports Bay Area. “I want to be a Raider for life, but at the end of the day, I have to take care of my business on the field. I’m not focused on the contract. That stuff will take care of itself.”

Among McKenzie’s first-round picks, only Joseph and 2017 first-rounder Gareon Conley remain Raiders. Despite starting in just eight games last season, the 2016 first-round pick graded as Pro Football Focus’ No. 23 overall safety (in just 509 snaps) and worked alongside Abram in Oakland’s starting lineup at minicamp. Erik Harris is working as a backup, per Bair.

Here is the latest out of northern California:

  • As for Joyner, the Raiders are following through on their spring talk of playing him as a slot corner. The player the Rams used as a safety starter the past two years worked exclusively as a slot defender during the minicamp and OTA sessions available to the media, Bair notes. The Raiders gave Joyner a four-year, $42MM contract. If they intend to confine him to slot duty, this would make him the league’s highest-paid pure slot corner — a distinction Kenny Moore was believed to hold when he signed a Colts extension this week. Joyner worked as a corner for the Rams from 2014-16 and would join Trent Brown as recent Raiders signees asked to change positions.
  • Mike McGlinchey sustained a knee injury that required a recent procedure. The 49ers‘ right tackle starter did not participate in minicamp, instead receiving platelet-rich plasma injections on a knee he recently injured, Jennifer Lee Chan of NBC Sports Bay Area notes. McGlinchey, who started 16 games for the 49ers last season, is expected to be ready for training camp.
  • Garrett Celek has more significant issues to surmount. In addition to remaining in concussion protocol, the veteran 49ers tight end will need back surgery, Kyle Shanahan said. The seventh-year tight end may well miss the start of training camp, per Chan. This would point to Celek’s back problem being rather minor. As for his concussion concern: Celek, who saw a head injury end his 2018 season, remains in the protocol because the next time he can take a concussion test will be training camp. But he’s certainly not out of the woods on the injury front.

Raiders, Erik Harris Reach Extension

The Raiders and Erik Harris have reached agreement on an extension, as Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets. The safety and core special teamer will earn up to $6.5MM on a two-year deal with $2.5MM guaranteed. 

Harris was a restricted free agent this offseason and the Raiders initially cuffed him with the low-cost original round tender. Instead, Harris has received a new deal that will keep him under club control through the 2020 campaign.

Harris took the scenic route to the NFL after emerging from the California University of Pennsylvania. After a few seasons with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the CFL, Harris hooked on with the Saints on a futures deal. Finally, in 2017, he saw his first live action in the NFL with the Raiders. Then, last season, he impressed head coach Jon Gruden and worked his way into an important special teams role. Harris wound up playing in all 16 games with four starts in 2018. He finished out with 49 tackles, seven passes defensed, and two interceptions.

In other Raiders news, former Oakland cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie says he’s ending his brief retirement and aims to play in 2019.

Raiders Tender RB Jalen Richard, CB Daryl Worley

The Raiders placed second-round tenders on both running back Jalen Richard and cornerback Darryl Worley. Both players are now earmarked for one-year, $3.095MM deals with Oakland, unless they are signed to an offer sheet from a club willing to surrender a second-round pick. Meanwhile, Raiders safety Erik Harris received one-year, $2.025MM original round tender as a restricted free agent.

The move to tender Worley at the second-round level is a bit of a head scratcher. In his case, an original round tender would have called for another club to surrender a third-round pick to sign him. That would have been ample protection for a player who graded out as the seventh-worst cornerback in the NFL last year, according to Pro Football Focus, but the Raiders took the extra step of protecting him with the second-round level tender. Ultimately, it will eat up about $1MM extra in cap space, and small missteps like that tend to add up.

The decision to protect Richard, a former UDFA, with the second-round tender makes more sense. Last year, Richard managed 4.7 yards per carry in a limited sample size and he boasts a career 5.3 ypc average. He’ll return to a Raiders team that may or may not feature Doug Martin and Marshawn Lynch in 2019.

Minor NFL Transactions: 4/9/18

Here are today’s minor moves.

Detroit Lions

Indianapolis Colts

Kansas City Chiefs

Oakland Raiders

Pittsburgh Steelers

  • Signed: OL Joseph Cheek
  • Signed: OL Larson Graham
  • Signed: OL Parker Collins

Tennessee Titans

Washington Redskins