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The new league year begins next month, and with it comes the start of the free agency period in the NFL. The Colts have several guys who will become free agents at that point, but there may be some of them worth re-signing. We’ll be taking a look at each one of them and discussing whether it would be a good idea for the Colts to bring them back or not. We continue today with restricted free agent Jonotthan Harrison.
When it comes to looking at which players the Colts should re-sign, it’s not just the unrestricted free agents that warrant consideration. There are also restricted free agents and exclusive rights free agents that could be signed to cheap deals and therefore could be worth bringing back.
Jonotthan Harrison is one of the guys who will be a restricted free agent, meaning that the Colts can offer him an RFA tender (which is what they did with Jack Doyle last year, for example).
Signed as an undrafted free agent in 2014 out of Florida, Harrison has played in 44 games and started 23 for the Colts over the past three seasons. He played center in his first two seasons but was up and down: he was clearly strong physically, but he wasn’t a great center. That led people to think he could be a solid guard, and with the drafting of Ryan Kelly last year the Colts moved Harrison to guard. He started out as nothing more than depth, but he wound up playing in 13 games and starting four of them at left guard. He started against the Packers, and then with Jack Mewhort on IR he started the final three games of the season. Harrison definitely held his own at guard, and that was an encouraging sign for the Colts.
When Jack Mewhort returns from injury he’ll regain his starting spot, and that will again relegate Harrison to the bench. But that doesn’t mean he’s not a solid depth option. He’s got the versatility to play both guard and center, and more than that he’s actually made multiple NFL starts at both spots. Though he likely won’t be needed at center anytime soon, he proved capable at guard when asked to play there last year and would be great to have around as depth. Considering he could be signed to a small RFA tender, I don’t see any reason not to re-sign Harrison this offseason.