New York Jets defensive tackle Damon "Snacks" Harrison may not be well-known in national fan and media circles, but according to his positional coach, the league is plenty aware of his existence.
"This is the NFL," Jets defensive line coach Karl Dunbar recently told the NY Daily News. "Everybody you play watches the tape and knows what you can do.
"So, maybe the media and other people don’t know what’s going on, but the coaches in this league understand what kind of football player he is.”
Harrison joined the Jets in 2012 as an undrafted free agent and clung to the roster that year, playing in five games.
The slimmed-down (yeah, seriously) 6-foot-4, 338-pounder burst on the scene last season, starting all 16 games and clogging up the middle so defensive rookie of the year Sheldon Richardson and star frontman Muhammad Wilkerson could do their thing.
ProFootballFocus had Snacks as the league's fourth-best tackle in 2013, as he took the lead in Gang Green re-establishing itself as a top-three run defense. Dunbar doesn't expect Harrison to be giving up all that real estate between the offensive tackles any time soon.
“.... the two ‘A’ Gaps and the two ‘B’ gaps belong to him," Dunbar said.
Harrison amassed 66 tackles last season and even batted down two passes, though he tallied just one quarterback takedown. With offenses forced to key in on the emerging Richardson and dominating Wilkerson, Harrison should get plenty of chances to up that sack total in 2014.
