What looked, at times, to be a messy contractual situation came to a merciful end (for now) on Tuesday when Denver Broncos and cornerback Chris Harris Jr. agreed to a pay raise for the 2019 season. The veteran defender signed a new one-year, $12.5 million deal.
Harris, 29, was scheduled to make $8.9 million this season as the last installment of a contract he signed in 2014. The deal makes Harris the highest-paid corner on Denver's roster, but according to Mike Klis of 9News, Harris has bigger contractual goals in mind already.
https://twitter.com/MikeKlis/status/1133531084824539136
Betting on himself has worked well for Harris, an undrafted rookie free agent out of Kansas when he entered the league, and he obviously banking on proving his worth again this season. Despite approaching 30 years of age, Harris, the last remaining member of the No Fly Zone, has still played at an elite level when healthy.
Nevertheless, it is difficult to see Harris getting his way next offseason, though, when he will be another year older. The issue at hand isn't whether he deserves the money, he surely does, but whether a team will give it to him. Currently, all of the top-10 largest contracts for his position were signed when the player was 29 years old or younger. And nearly all expire before the player's age 33 season.
Washington's Josh Norman currently holds the deal with the largest per-year value, but he signed it when he was 28 years old.
The data is against Harris as he eyes free agency, but perhaps Denver, or another team, will accommodate him on a short-term deal if he plays at an All-Pro level again this season.
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