The ongoing drama between Chris Harris Jr. and the Denver Broncos appeared to be heading towards an ugly divorce, but one side has at least attempted to stall this escalating event. Harris walked back the escalation with a reconciliatory tone in recent comments to the media.
First, in an interview with 9News on Wednesday, Harris didn’t mince words on where he was with this situation.
“I don’t have any hard feelings about anything,’’ Harris said. “I always wanted to retire here. It’s not me. It can be salvaged.’’
This is good news for fans of Harris and his outstanding career in Denver. He may be 30 years old, but there has been no sign of his play declining. Father time will always win, but there seems to be a good chance he has more than a few quality years left in his career.
In some follow-up comments to Nicki Jhabvala he noted that the door is only going to be closed by the Broncos and that he still wanted to retire in Denver.
“Oh yeah, I always wanted to retire here. ... I’m never closing that door until they close it.”
As for a potential hold out, that wouldn’t be in the cards. First, John Elway has never gone down a road with any player that forces them to either hold out or play out a contract they no longer want.
I asked Harris if he would hold out the year if the Broncos refuse to give him a new deal or trade him. "It shouldn’t get to that point."https://t.co/ib8dALkHMm
— Nicki Jhabvala (@NickiJhabvala) April 24, 2019
Elway will trade Harris before that decision would ever be on the table for Harris. Elway wouldn’t want to keep a player on the roster who doesn’t want to be there.
So while it’s still like a new deal or a trade, at least it is starting to look a little less dire of a situation. Perhaps that $15 million a year demand was merely a starting point for these negotiations.
Whatever the final offer ends up being, the Denver Broncos are a better football team with Chris Harris Jr. than without. And that will hold true no matter who they draft this weekend.