What safety Will Harris brings to the Washington Commanders

Examining what the Commanders are getting in safety Will Harris

The Washington Commanders have agreed a deal to sign free agent safety Will Harris. The 6-foot-1, 206 pound safety played for the Saints last year but his ties to Washington come from being a third round pick of the Detroit Lions back in 2019. Commanders assistant general manager Lance Newmark was on the Lions scouting staff at that point, so he has some familiarity with Harris. Harris comes in to replace the outgoing Jeremy Chinn, who left in free agency to join the Raiders. So what are the Commanders getting in Harris? Let’s take a closer look.

Versatility

The first thing that jumps out with Harris when watching him is how versatile he is. The Saints moved him all around the defense last year. He played snaps at free safety, strong safety, slot corner, dime linebacker and even occasionally as an outside cornerback. He performed a wide variety of tasks from those different positions too. His game against the Cowboys this past season is a perfect example of how versatile he is.

First up, we have a snap of Harris playing free safety in the deep middle of the field. The Cowboys are down in the red zone and leave Harris as the single deep safety. His job is to protect the middle of the field but also provide support to receivers being funneled towards him. The Cowboys see Harris as the deep safety and read man coverage on the outside, so they decide to throw a fade to star receiver CeeDee Lamb outside to the left.

At the snap of the ball, Harris shows a great awareness of what the Cowboys are doing. He identifies that Lamb has been matched up one-on-one in man coverage and that the Cowboys are likely to target their star receiver in that type of situation. Despite being in the middle of the field. Harris immediately takes off running out to the sideline to try and help out his cornerback in coverage. The quarterback receives the snap and immediately looks to Lamb. He trusts his receiver to win and puts the ball up for him to go make a play. Lamb never gets beyond the corner, but he tracks the ball well and goes up to make the catch over the top of the corner.

However, as Lamb is coming down with the ball, Harris suddenly arrives out of nowhere. He makes up a huge amount of ground and uses his momentum to land a huge but clean hit on Lamb. That hit causes Lamb to lose control of the ball and it falls incomplete. It was a terrific play from Harris to break up the pass and save a touchdown.

But that was just one play. Later in the game, the Saints asked him to do a completely different assignment.

This time, the Cowboys have three receivers in a bunch set to the left of the formation, with Lamb as the inside receiver in the bunch. Harris is one of four defenders the Saints have over the bunch, giving them a four-over-three coverage. As the ball is snapped and the receivers declare their intentions, Harris is left to bracket Lamb with his fellow safety. Harris takes outside leverage while his teammate plays inside. Lamb is running a corner route though, so as he breaks outside, Harris is the one responsible for the star receiver. Harris does well running stride for stride with Lamb and taking away the Cowboys top receiving target, forcing the quarterback to look elsewhere.

It’s another good play from Harris, but later on his role changed yet again.