Former Kansas City Chiefs defensive back Vernon Harris has signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have signed former Kansas City Chiefs defensive back Vernon Harris along with offensive tackle Austin Albrecht in a move announced on Saturday. Harris will replace Marcus Fleming on the Bucs roster.
Harris entered the NFL as an undrafted free agent with Kansas City last offseason but was lost for the year after he was injured early in training camp. He spent the entire season on Injured Reserve for K.C. The Chiefs officially released Harris in May, shortly after the 2017 NFL Draft.
Harris had nice size coming out of college at 6’1, 197 lbs. and was the only college football player to start 40 games in Dartmouth’s history. Harris was first-team All-Ivy League for two straight seasons. He had six career interceptions, three each of his final two years, along with 28 career passes defended.
Harris ran a 4.50 40-yard dash coming out of college in the pre-draft season, but was projected to likely go undrafted in the end. The Chiefs moved on after bringing in this year’s undrafted free agents and drafting Leon McQuay III—a move that makes sense given how deep the competition looks throughout the entire secondary.
Harris was one of the 2016 rookie free agents to last the longest. The only official player left standing from those seven players is linebacker Terrance Smith, who actually earned a start late in the year when D.J. Alexander clearly wasn’t ready to start in the team’s base defense next to Derrick Johnson. Smith remains in the mix for the final 53-man roster alongside Kevin Pierre-Louis, Justin March-Lillard, Ukeme Eligwe, Ramik Wilson and more.