After losing safeties Chauncey Gardner-Johnson and Reed Blankenship to injuries, the Philadelphia Eagles are bring back Anthony Harris, according to a report from Adam Schefter of ESPN.
It is not yet known if Harris is being signed to the 53-man roster, or the practice squad, but we will update when those details are known. Update: Practice squad, per a league source.
On the day that NFL teams cut their rosters down to 53 players this summer, the Eagles traded for Gardner-Johnson, and Harris was released. Harris spent the 2022 season with the Denver Broncos, initially on their practice squad, and later on their active roster. He was released on December 6.
Harris was an undrafted free agent of the Vikings out of Virginia who worked his way into Minnesota's starting lineup. Prior to his time in Philly, he had played in 81 games, starting 47. In 2019, Harris picked off six passes, which was good for a share of the league lead. He added a seventh pick in the postseason, victimizing Drew Brees.
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The Vikings franchise tagged Harris during the 2020 offseason, and he made $11,441,000 that season. In 2020, Harris had something of a down season, he became a free agent in 2021, and a strong market for his services did not develop. As a result, the Eagles were able to land him at the reasonable cost of $4 million on a one-year deal.
Eagles defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon was the Vikings' assistant defensive backs coach from 2014 to 2017. He overlapped with Harris from 2015 to 2017, so the Harris signing made sense in 2021 as something of a "training wheels" player in Gannon's defense. He now makes sense once again as an available player off of the street who knows the scheme.
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