Damon Harrison is the best interior defensive lineman in the NFL right now. The numbers don’t lie.
There was some head-scratching done last offseason when the New York Giants threw a lot of money at Harrison, luring him across town from the New York Jets. It seemed like a big investment for the interior of the defensive line, especially as he transitioned from a 3-4 to a 4-3 defense. In every way, from leadership to his play on the field, Harrison has delivered and paid the Giants back on this investment.
And now the player once cut from his junior college football team and who went undrafted after a stellar career in the NAIA at William Penn should be on the cusp of the Pro Bowl.
The numbers don’t lie about Harrison, now in his sixth year in the league and second with the Giants. He is the best interior defensive linemen in the league.
Pro Football Focus, the analytics site, offered proved Harrison’s big play over the past two years. It is a crime that he didn’t make the Pro Bowl a year ago and he followed that up with an equally impressive 2017 on a pretty bad Giants team.
Pro Football Focus notes that Harrison leads all defensive tackles with 31 run stops this year:
“If he maintains his lead, he will have led all defensive tackles in this category in four of his seven professional seasons. Additionally, Harrison has now racked up 196 run stops since 2013, which is 64 stops more than the closest defensive tackle (Ndamukong Suh–132) in that span.”
Because he’s been overlooked throughout his career for the Pro Bowl, fans are taking to social media to support Harrison’s case to make the game.
“It means a lot man. Fans appreciate what I do each and every Sunday. I continue to go out there and fight no matter the score, no matter the outcome, I have a job to do,” Harrison said on Thursday. “I love this game so just to get that love reciprocated in Pro Bowl votes, it means a lot.”
