Former Broncos CB Chris Harris Jr. retiring after 12 seasons in NFL

Chris Harris is done waiting for another phone call. He’s calling it a career.

After preparing for one more opportunity and failing to attract interest, the veteran cornerback is retiring from the NFL after 12 seasons.

“I just waited a year and I stayed in shape, but I realized that everybody was pretty much moving on with the younger players, the younger wave,” Harris told The Denver Gazette in a story posted Tuesday. “So I thought it would be great to just call it an end.”

An undrafted signee out of Kansas in 2011, Harris proved to be a gem in his pro career, filling a key role as a cornerback in Denver’s vaunted “No Fly Zone” defense of the mid-2010s. Alongside Aqib Talib, T.J. Ward and Darian Stewart, Harris and the rest of the Broncos’ defense posted a league-best showing in total yards and passing yards allowed per game, forming the NFL’s top unit on the way to a triumph over 2015 NFL MVP Cam Newton and the Carolina Panthers in Super Bowl 50.

Harris carved out quite a career for himself by winning with grit. He was a tenacious defender and relentless tackler with a nose for the ball that helped him rack up 20 interceptions in nine seasons with the Broncos, rising from unknown to a staple of a Broncos defense that perfectly complemented Peyton Manning in the Hall of Famer’s final years in the NFL.

Harris earned four Pro Bowl nods and a first-team All-Pro selection (2016) in his nine years in the Mile High City, enjoying his prime years with a Broncos team that reached the Super Bowl in the 2013 and 2015 seasons. With remarkably consistent production serving as a hallmark of his career, Harris was named to the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s All-Decade Team for the 2010s.

As Denver entered a rebuild, Harris found employment in a familiar, but new place, switching sides in the Broncos-Chargers rivalry when he signed a two-year, $20 million deal with Los Angeles in 2020. He’d play out the length of that contract, recording 74 tackles, two interceptions and eight passes defensed during his time with the Bolts before giving it one more go with the Saints in 2022.

“I was able to accomplish pretty much everything,” Harris said. “The only award I didn’t win was Defensive Player of the Year. Getting All-Decade was the top thing. I feel definitely blessed, especially coming in as undrafted. I pretty much had to fight through all my career and being able to overcome that, that’s one thing I’m definitely happy for.”

At 33 years old, Harris held out hope he’d get a final chance to chase another ring in 2023, choosing to wait for a call from a contender. He never received such a call, though, instead spending the 2023 season staying in shape and watching from afar.

This time around, Harris isn’t interested in spending time sitting by the phone. With a lengthy, prosperous career complete and Super Bowl ring in his possession, Harris is ready to begin the next chapter of his life.