 Harrison with theNew York Giants in 2016 | |||||||||||||||
| No. 71, 94, 98, 78, 59 | |||||||||||||||
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| Position: | Defensive tackle | ||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||
| Born: | (1988-11-29)November 29, 1988 (age 36) New Iberia, Louisiana, U.S. | ||||||||||||||
| Height: | 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) | ||||||||||||||
| Weight: | 350 lb (159 kg) | ||||||||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||||||||
| High school: | Lake Charles-Boston (Lake Charles, Louisiana) | ||||||||||||||
| College: |
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| Undrafted: | 2012 | ||||||||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||||||||
| Career highlights and awards | |||||||||||||||
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| Career NFL statistics | |||||||||||||||
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Damon Paul Harrison (born November 29, 1988) is a formerAmerican footballdefensive tackle. He playedcollege football atWilliam Penn University and was signed by theNew York Jets as anundrafted free agent in 2012. He was also a member of theNew York Giants,Detroit Lions,Seattle Seahawks andGreen Bay Packers. According toPro Football Focus, he led the league inrun-stop percentage between2013 and2016.[1]
Harrison was born inNew Iberia, Louisiana on November 29, 1988. He attendedLake Charles Boston High School, where he primarily played shooting guard on the school'sbasketball varsity team.[2] On November 29, 2005, during his junior season, he injured themeniscus in his left knee, and gained "like 40 or 50 pounds" over the next two months.[3] He decided to take on football for his senior year, playing both offensive and defensive line, and was an all-district and all-Southwest Louisiana selection in 2006.[4] He was also named as the team captain and was selected as Lake Charles Boston's Offensive MVP and Defensive MVP along with being selected as the Lake Charles Boston's Offensive Lineman of the Year.[4]
Since much of recruiting takes place during a high school player's junior season, Harrison was overlooked by college scouts and wound up without any scholarship offer after his graduation. He enrolled atNorthwest Mississippi Community College, but dropped out after the first semester to work as a night stocker atWalmart inLake Charles.[3] However, he was later recruited toWilliam Penn University, inOskaloosa, Iowa, by former NMCC assistant coach Steve Miller.[2][3][5]
In his first year at William Penn, Harrison finished fifth on the team in tackles. As a sophomore and junior, he was voted second-team all-conference.[3] During his senior season, he was recognized asNAIA All-American and first-team all-conference after posting 3.5 sacks and 8.5 tackles for losses among his team-high 60 tackles.[3] Throughout his college career, he started all 44 games he played at William Penn.[6]
Prior to the draft, Harrison worked out atIowa State's pro day, and was "considered a late-round prospect in a weak class of nose tackle."[3] The last player to have been selected from William Penn in the NFL Draft wasAndy Stokes in 2005, who was taken by the New England Patriots with the final pick, and their last player to appear in an NFL game wasWarren Loving in1987.
| Height | Weight | Arm length | Hand span | 40-yard dash | 10-yard split | 20-yard split | 20-yard shuttle | Three-cone drill | Vertical jump | Broad jump | Bench press | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 ft2+5⁄8 in (1.90 m) | 339 lb (154 kg) | 33 in (0.84 m) | 10 in (0.25 m) | 5.54 s | 1.91 s | 3.14 s | 4.99 s | 7.80 s | 25 in (0.64 m) | 7 ft 9 in (2.36 m) | 34 reps | |
| All values from Iowa Statepro day (March 20, 2012)[7][8] | ||||||||||||
After receiving a seventh-round grade by Jeff Bauer, Jets' director of college scouting, Harrison went undrafted in the2012 NFL draft. Right after the draft, he was called by twelve NFL teams to join their practice camp squads.[9]
Harrison was signed by theNew York Jets as an undrafted free agent on April 29, 2012.[10] He appeared in 5 games in 2012 but did not record a single stat that year. Following the departure ofSione Pouha and a preseason injury toKenrick Ellis, Harrison was named the starting defensive tackle for the 2013 season.[11] On October 20, 2013, Harrison recorded his first career sack when he brought downNew England Patriots quarterbackTom Brady. During the 2013 season, Harrison started all 16 games making 66 tackles, 2 passes defended, and 1 sack. In 2014, Harrison again started all 16 games with 55 tackles. In 2015, Harrison again started all 16 games making 72 tackles, 0.5 sacks, and a forced fumble.
Harrison signed with theNew York Giants on March 9, 2016, to a 5-year contract worth $9.25 million per year with $24 million guaranteed and $30 million over the first three years.[12] With the Giants, Harrison was selected to be in the first-team All-Pro by the Associated Press on January 6, 2017.[13] He was also ranked 96th on theNFL Top 100 Players of 2017.[14]
On October 24, 2018, Harrison was traded to theDetroit Lions for a conditional 2019 fifth-round draft pick. The condition was that the Lions would give either their own 2019 5th round pick or the 5th round pick that was previously acquired from theSan Francisco 49ers in a trade forLaken Tomlinson, depending on which is higher.[15] Because he was traded to the Lions before the Giants bye week and after the Lions bye week, Harrison played in 17 games during the 2018 season, the first defensive lineman to accomplish this feat.
On August 21, 2019, Harrison signed a one-year, $11 million contract extension with the Lions, keeping him under contract through the 2021 season.[16]
On February 21, 2020, Harrison was released by the Lions.[17]
On October 7, 2020, Harrison was signed to theSeattle Seahawks practice squad.[18] He was elevated to the active roster on November 14 and 19 for the team's weeks 10 and 11 games against theLos Angeles Rams andArizona Cardinals, and reverted to the practice squad after each game.[19][20] He was promoted to the active roster on November 23.[21] After being a healthy scratch in week 16 against theLos Angeles Rams, Harrison requested to be released and the team waived him on December 28, 2020.[22]
On December 30, 2020, Harrison was claimed off waivers by theGreen Bay Packers.[23]
On November 13, 2021, Harrison announced his retirement from the NFL after nine seasons.[24]
| Season | Team | GP | GS | Comb | Total | Ast | Sck | FF | FR | PD | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | NYJ | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| 2013 | NYJ | 16 | 16 | 66 | 36 | 30 | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | |||||
| 2014 | NYJ | 16 | 16 | 55 | 30 | 25 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| 2015 | NYJ | 16 | 16 | 72 | 39 | 33 | 0.5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| 2016 | NYG | 16 | 16 | 86 | 55 | 31 | 2.5 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |||||
| 2017 | NYG | 16 | 16 | 76 | 51 | 25 | 1.5 | 0 | 0 | 3 | |||||
| 2018 | NYG | 7 | 7 | 31 | 15 | 16 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| 2018 | DET | 10 | 9 | 50 | 37 | 13 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||||
| 2019 | DET | 15 | 15 | 49 | 29 | 20 | 2.0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | |||||
| 2020 | SEA | 6 | 0 | 9 | 3 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| 2020 | GB | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| Total | 124 | 111 | 494 | 295 | 199 | 11.0 | 5 | 1 | 10 | ||||||
| Source:NFL.com | |||||||||||||||
| Season | Team | GP | GS | Comb | Total | Ast | Sck | FF | FR | PD | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | NYG | 1 | 1 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| 2020 | GB | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| Total | 3 | 1 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||
| Source:pro-football-reference.com | |||||||||||||||
Harrison is married to Alexis Harrison. They have seven children.[25] He has been a resident ofWashington Township, Bergen County, New Jersey.[26]
He goes by the nickname "Snacks".[27][28]
