Matthew Marczi told you more about James Harrison’s legendary workouts earlier this morning. But his play on the field has been pretty legendary too. Not just for its peaks but the overall consistency he’s shown throughout his career, especially the past two seasons.
They posted this graphic showing their yearly grade of him last night.
Even if you’re not into PFF’s ranking system, you can at least see the overall trend. Harrison has been holding steady for the past three years, even as he’s gotten older. For most players, there is an expected drop off. Not for Harrison.
If you do care to pay attention to the numbers, Harrison’s last three seasons don’t stray too far away from what he did in 2009 or 2011, years in which he had 8.5 and 10 sack respectively. Over the last three seasons, he has been consistent on the conventional stat sheet, with 5.5 sacks in 2014 and five in the last two years.
For better or worse, he has been the team’s best pass rushing OLB the last two seasons. Even more underrated is his run defense, as steady and strong as ever. Despite having just turned 39 earlier this month, there’s no reason to think Harrison is going to see a sharp decline this season. Heck, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him continue to improve, which is such an insane thought to even type out. But it’s totally justified.
Harrison is one-of-a-kind. I hope he plays another 10 years.
