Indianapolis Colts defensive coordinator candidates: Chris Harris

The Indianapolis Colts is looking for a new defensive coordinator after the team announced it was parting ways with Gus Bradley after three seasons in the role.

The Colts’ search for a new coordinator should be interesting, as some staff around the league could see this as a lame-duck situation with a head coach and a general manager on the hot seat. Still, there are only 32 of those jobs available around the league, so the Colts should be able to land a quality hire regardless of speculation surrounding the position.

This new series will profile several candidates the Colts are likely to take a closer look at in their search. First up is a familiar face, at least to the people running the search Tennessee Titans Passing Game Coordinator Chris Harris.

Background

Chris Harris– no, no to Chris Harris— may not have the pedigree of the other NFL player with his namesake, but he had a strong career in the league in his own right. He was selected in the sixth round of the 2005 NFL Draft by the Chicago Bears and spent nine years in the league in multiple destinations. As a safety, Harris was a second-team All-Pro in 2010, and his eight forced fumbles after Carolina Panthers in 2007 remains a single-season franchise record.

Harris transitioned into coaching immediately after retiring from the NFL, becoming a defensive quality control coach for the Bears in 2013. He graduated to an assistant defensive backs coach with Los Angeles Chargers from 2016-19 before finally becoming the man in charge of the secondary with Washington’s commanders from 2020-22.

In his time in Washington, Harris helped the Commanders rank eighth in the NFL in pass defense and fourth in total defense in three years. He has served as the Titans’ passing game coordinator for the past two seasons and has helped that organization rank in the top ten in several defensive categories. Overall, Harris has spent 20 seasons in the NFL, with 11 as a coach in a variety of roles.

Why the Colts would consider him

Harris may not have ties to the organization, but he has quite a few connections in the building with the Colts. He overlapped with Chris Ballard in Chicago for a number of years when Ballard was a professional scout for the organization. When Harris moved to Los Angeles, he worked with Shane Steichen (and Gus Bradley) on that staff for all three seasons.

The last time the Colts had an opening at their defensive coordinator job, Harris was one of the first few people interviewed. The job clearly went to Bradley, but the Colts have already spent time with Harris in the past to explore his job options.

Connections aside, which play a big role in all of this, the Colts could be interested in what type of tree Harris comes from. As a player, Harris spent the majority of his career playing under Lovie Smith and Ron Rivera, two successful Tampa-2 coaches in the late 2000s. His time as a coach has been spent working under coaches from a similar tree, with a slight branching out the past two seasons with Dennard Wilson (another coach Steichen has worked with in the past).

Harris brings familiarity in work experience and familiarity with scheme the Colts want to run (at least the scheme the Colts have run for most of Ballard’s tenure). He may not represent the big change many Colts’ fans want to see at the coordinator job, but he could offer another voice that could breathe new life into a fading defense.

Overall, Harris is a safe and familiar coach for the Colts’ power structure. He wouldn’t be the flashy hire that many want on that side of the ball, but if we know anything about how the Colts operate, Harris seems like the type of candidate they would pursue.

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