It won’t qualify as a ‘splash’ signing, but the Philadelphia Eagles have added cornerback Ajene Harris to a secondary in dire need of one. Here are three thoughts.
It’s beginning to look a lot like the midway point of the past two seasons. Bodies are piling up, and before long, most of us will need to enlist outside help to know who some of these new Philadelphia Eagles are. On Tuesday, Philly added an undrafted rookie cornerback Ajene Harris to the roster.
Conventional wisdom told us Philly might look to add a corner. Many of us thought they’d go bargain shopping, but Harris’ is a name that some of you may know already.
First, here’s the announcement from the team’s official Twitter account.
Roster Move: #Eagles have signed CB Ajene Harris and waived/injured T Casey Tucker.#FlyEaglesFly pic.twitter.com/hMFXdkPsZB
— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) August 6, 2019
Here are three quick notes on the new guy.
1. If the name sounds familiar, it’s because it should.
Harris played at that pro football factory that some of you refer to as the USC Trojans. He also participated in spring practice on a tryout basis. He wasn’t added to the training camp roster at that time, but he’s back for a second shot. It says a lot that Philly thought enough of him to bring him back.
2. He’s a former teammate of Nelson Agholor‘s who endured some twists and turns during tenure in Los Angeles.
Okay, so Agholor and Harris didn’t spend a ton of on-field time together in Southern California. Harris arrived at just about the time Agholor was getting ready to leave, but it is interesting to note.
Upon his arrival with the Trojans, this former three-star prospect was originally a wide receiver. He worked his way up the depth chart before being sidelined with a hamstring injury after five games and sitting out the next season after hip surgery.
When he returned, he was moved to cornerback thanks to USC’s usual problem of having too many good wide receivers. There, he flourished. Let’s talk about that a little.
3. Let’s look at some numbers.
By the close of his career, Harris had made quite the name for himself as a very good nickel corner. His final numbers in his last three seasons look like this (he was given another year of eligibility because of his injury): 144 total tackles (86 were solo, 6.5 resulted in a loss), six interceptions (three of those went to the house), 16 passes defensed, one forced fumble, and two fumble recoveries. He even added asack for good measure.
Now, will those numbers translate to the NFL? There’s no way of knowing that right now, but we should all have quite a bit of fun watching to see if they will.