The Broncos will use a second-round contract tender on restricted free-agent defensive tackle Shelby Harris, a league source said Sunday.
Once Harris signs, he will make $3.095 million in 2019, a significant and well-deserved raise from last year’s base salary of $705,000.
The other 31 NFL teams are allowed to sign Harris to an offer sheet. The Broncos would have five days to match or receive that team’s second-round pick.
Harris, 27, played 390 of 1,077 defensive snaps last year but could be in line for a bigger role because the Broncos don’t plan to re-sign nose tackle .
Not invited to the scouting combine but drafted in the seventh round by Oakland in 2014, Harris was released a combined six times by the Raiders, and Dallas before joining the Broncos in January 2017.
In two years for the Broncos, Harris has played in all 32 games and totaled 73 tackles, seven sacks and seven pass break-ups.
“I always felt I could play in this league,” Harris said in an interview last month.
Per the Denver Postap 2018 game charting, Harris had 10 1/2 pass-rush disruptions (sacks/knockdowns/pressures), fourth on the team, and 12 1/2 run “stuffs” (gain of 3 or fewer yards), fifth on the defense.
The Broncos could still be in the market for a defensive tackle once the free agent negotiating period begins Monday at 10 a.m., but with Harris back in the fold, they are able to be more conservative in what they spend on the position.
