David Harris is 85 tackles away from history

For the New York Jets, team captain David Harris has had a long and illustrious career at linebacker. Early next season, Harris will inevitably reach an elite milestone.

The New York Jets were so close to losing their defensive captain David Harris last season. Rex Ryan was fired and he was quickly scooped up by the Buffalo Bills. Ryan then started to build his roster with former players from his system and he had his eyes set on Harris at the outset of free agency.

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It seemed early on that a divorce was on the horizon before the Jets new front office made it a priority to bring their captain back. They re-signed him to a three-year deal with $21.5M with $15M fully guaranteed the first two years.

The guaranteed money was surprising for a player of Harris’ age, but the Jets couldn’t be happier bringing their leader back. Now just a short season later, Harris is very close to joining an elite group.

Harris has always been a lunch pail, punch in and punch out kind of player for the Jets. Harris spoke with team reporter Eric Allen for NewYorkJets.com about inevitably reaching second place on the team’s all-time tackles list next season:

“It may cross my mind every once in a while. But at the end of the day, I just know if I go out there and just do my job, that will come,” says Harris, who should pass Mo Lewis (1,231) on the team’s all-list in 2016. “So I’m not going to go out there pressing… No I’m not going to go out like that. I’m just going to go out there and do my job and if I pass it, I pass it this year. But that’s not in my mind right now.”

Harris is entering his 10th season with the Jets and has been as consistent as they come. The newest Jets draftee Darron Lee will need to absorb as much of Harris’ knowledge as possible as he learns the ‘Mo’ linebacker position.

The Jets finished with the fourth best defense in the league in 2015. Entering year two of head coach Todd Bowles schemes, the Jets should be even better in 2016.

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Although Harris is already 32-years-old, he should continue to be a mainstay at linebacker for the next several seasons. Eventually Lee will be ready to take the torch from Harris, hopefully it just won’t be anytime soon.