Former Denver Broncos cornerback Chris Harris Jr. has officially announced his retirement from the NFL.
Harris, 34, last played for the New Orleans Saints in 2022, and he told Chris Tomasson of The Denver Gazette that he was holding out hope for one more chance in the league.
When that didn’t come, the four-time Pro Bowler elected to hang up his cleats.
“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 said. “So I thought it would be great to just call it an end.”
An undrafted free agent out of Kansas, Harris cracked the Broncos’ roster in 2011 and became a mainstay for the team. In nine seasons in Denver, he recorded 518 tackles, 20 interceptions and 86 passes defensed in 139 games, helping the Broncos reach two Super Bowls and win Super Bowl 50.
Harris earned two second-team All-Pro selections and one first-team All-Pro commendation. He also was named to the 2010s All-Decade Team.
After leaving Denver, he closed out his career with the Los Angeles Chargers (2020-21) and the Saints.
As much as Harris was able to accomplish in the league, he does have one regret, he told Tomasson.
“I didn’t get to play safety,’’ Harris said. “That’s probably my only regret, not being to transfer to safety like a lot of other (cornerbacks late in their careers), like Ronde Barber, Aeneas Williams and Charles Woodson. That’s probably my only regret, not being able to show I could do that.”