Broncos roster review: defensive lineman Jonathan Harris

The back end of the defensive line roster is crowded, so there will be plenty of competition this summer as that group of players look to snag a spot on the Denver Broncos roster for 2021. One of those players is Jonathan Harris.

Jonathan Harris’ profile

Height: 6’5”
Weight: 295 lbs
Age: 24 years old
Experience: Third season
College: Lindenwood

Harris signed with the Chicago Bears as an undrafted rookie in 2019 and was waived by the team before the season. Vic Fangio was quick to pick him up on waivers and he appeared in four games that season for Denver.

The good

Denver keeps bringing him back. Harris missed all of 2020 after being waived with an injury/illness designation, but Fangio and company thought highly enough of him to bring him back for another shot at the team this year.

There isn’t much actual game film on Harris to go off and what is there is now two years old when he was a rookie. In college, he piled up 183 total tackles and 22 sacks. However, that was while playing at Lindenwood, so we’ll just need to wait until training camp to get an idea of how much he has progressed in his game to get an idea where he has improved upon.

The bad

The bad for Harris is how many guys are competing for a roster spot this year along the interior defensive line. We have the locks to make the roster in Mike Purcell, Shelby Harris, DeShawn Williams, Dre’Mont Jones, Shamar Stephen, and more than likely McTelvin Agim. Agim might be on the bubble there, but I’ll include him as a lock given he is a second-year drafted player.

That leaves maybe one additional roster spot along the interior defensive line for seventh-round pick Marquiss Spencer, Isaiah Mack, Deyon Sizer, and Jonathan Harris.

Final thoughts

Given how many players are competing here to make the roster, I think Harris might end up being the odd man out. It’ll be interesting to see what direction Denver goes if that does happen and if Harris still finds a way to stick around on the practice squad.