From four-time Pro Football Focus run defender of the year to the unemployment line in one season. How Detroit Lions is that? The Lions cut Damon “Snacks” Harrison on Tuesday after just 1.5 seasons in Detroit, and I can’t let him go without recapping just what the hell went wrong.

The trade

The Lions acquired Harrison from the New York Giants six games into the 2018 season for the price of a fifth-round pick. As Snacks was already well-established as an elite run stopper and had multiple years remaining on his contract at a modest $8-10 million, this appeared to be an absolute heist of trade. GM Bob Quinn and company found a relatively inexpensive way to fill one of their most glaring needs with an elite talent, which is about all you can ask for in terms of roster construction. It was a much-needed PR win for the oft-scrutinized Lions’ front office as the trade was nearly universally praised, locally, as well as nationally.

The immediate production

It didn’t take long for Detroit to reap the benefits of their new prized possession. The Lions were a bottom-five run defense unit in the first six weeks of 2018 before the Harrison trade, allowing nearly 140 yards per game on the ground. With Snacks in town, they improved that number to 92.5, a shade off the NFL lead. They held teams to 61 or fewer rushing yards in five of the ten games Harrison played in Detroit in 2018. This is all the more impressive given the fact that opponents were typically in a running game script against the Lions, routinely playing with a lead. 

With one defensive tackle spot locked down, the Lions were free to invest their draft resources and cap space focusing on other needs (DE, TE, CB). Harrison appeared to be a “set-it-and-forget-it” type of player, and a defensive anchor for the foreseeable future.

The holdout

Here’s where the honeymoon ends.

In the spring/summer of 2019, Harrison skipped offseason OTAs and mandatory minicamp in search of a reworked contract. He forfeited a $250,000 workout bonus for missing OTAs, and was subjected to an undisclosed amount of fines for skipping out on minicamp. He was undoubtedly outperforming the terms of his 5yr/$46 million deal he signed with the Giants in 2016, and wanted his past performance rewarded despite having two seasons remaining on his contract. It was widely reported that the Lions typically do not offer contract extensions until the player is entering the final year of his deal, which is why the game of chicken ensued. 

Interestingly, both Harrison and longtime CB Darius Slay are represented by super-agent Drew Rosenhaus, and both played the same holdout game in 2019 before returning to the team in time for training camp. Slay is still in search of his new deal, as the Lions stuck to their “no early extensions” policy with their stud corner. Harrison, surprisingly, was given an extra 1yr/$11 million tacked on to the end his deal and a reworked salary structure that now offered him partially guaranteed money and a healthy signing bonus, serving as an appetizer and a “thank you for your service” show of goodwill. 

It appeared as if Snacks’ hunger was satiated. The Lions could also feel good about the extension, as his new contract still represented good value based on his sheer on-field dominance. Time to play some football!

The drop-off

In case you didn’t watch how the season played out, congratulations. I’ll fill you in from here.

Last season didn’t go so well for the Lions, and a lot of it has to do with the complete and utter lack of a defense. A non-existent pass-rush, missed tackles from the linebackers, and too few turnovers generated by the secondary were just a few of the defensive lowlights that sunk the Lions last season.

But don’t let the big fella in the middle skate just because he plays a less sexy brand of football in the trenches. Harrison had a disastrous season which found him being usurped from his No. 1 run defender throne, falling all the way down to No. 65(!) at his position.

Yes, you read that correctly. Harrison clocked in at No. 65 among all defensive tackles against the run, just one year removed from being named a top-50 player at any position in the NFL by PFF in 2018.

If my calculations are correct, there are only 32 teams in the NFL, and generally two DTs on the field at any given time. So, you can think of it as every team in the NFL having two DTs better than Harrison at stopping the run in 2019. Even the Lions’ own Mike Daniels, who has battled a slew of injuries for the better part of two seasons, graded out better than Snacks in 2019. That is a shocking fall from grace for a player that had been so consistently dominant throughout his career.

So, what the hell happened? How can a player this good regress so drastically in such a short amount of time? As much as people love to blame head coach Matt Patricia for all the Lions’ faults, you can’t put Harrison’s failures on the coach given how well Snacks performed for the Lions in 2018. If anything, you would think he would be even better in his second year in a new organization and scheme. He was also now playing alongside arguably the biggest free-agent fish in the 2019 class in defensive end Trey Flowers. For anyone who watched the games closely, one thing jumped off the screen as being the biggest factor in Harrison’s struggles all season: conditioning. 

The writing was on the wall as early as Week 1 last season that Harrison wasn’t right. Cardinals QB Kyler Murray, following their wacky season-opening tie with the Lions, offered up the opinion that Snacks looked “tired”, despite playing only 27 of the 89 defensive snaps in the game.

Anyone who read my weekly observations knows I was driving the “Snacks is out of shape” train from the moment it left the station. Here is my Week 2 recap from the Lions’ win over the Chargers, in which Harrison makes his Warm Take debut. He would go on to become a weekly staple in my columns, given how painfully obvious it was that this guy just wasn’t in game shape and couldn’t deliver the type of impact performances we had grown accustomed to. By Week 7 I had to semi-retire Harrison from my observations, because it was getting redundant writing “low snap count” and “hard to watch him stand up” week after week. I remember one game where the Lions were flagged for “12 men on the field” because their opponents snapped the ball before Snacks could jog (I’m being generous with jog) to the sidelines. 

By the time Snacks’ participation rate finally started to resemble his past seasons – Week 10 against Dallas was the first game his snap count was above 55% – Matthew Stafford had already broken his back and it was time for mock draft season. 

The drama

For what it’s worth, Harrison mostly took responsibility for his poor season, even admitting that his late arrival to the team in the offseason program had contributed to his struggles. Even after reporting for training camp he still wasn’t ready to participate fully, being placed on the non-football injury list and further delaying his game-ready conditioning. Self-awareness is a powerful tool that not everyone possesses. It can help people learn from their mistakes and come back stronger and smarter than before…unless it mentally breaks you to the point you decide you would rather just walk away, of course.

That’s right. Harrison had never known what it was like to not be the best in the world at his specific lane: stuffing the run. So the first time he experiences anything other than dominating his opponent, he considers calling it quits? Let’s just give him a chance to gather himself. This clip was from a Week 17 post-game interview in a season that went off the rails. Time heals all, and I’m sure he’ll realize he doesn’t want to go out like that. 

Uh oh, this is getting messy. 

Way, and I mean wayyyyyyyyyyyy after the fact, Snacks came out claiming that his offseason wasn’t a holdout situation. He was just…being a dad, I guess? Even though it was communicated as a holdout by literally every media outlet who covered it, and Matt Patricia was even quoted saying “I don’t really talk about any of that stuff as far as contract situations” when asked about Harrison’s absence from minicamp.

If he really had no other choice but to stay home with the kids over the summer, why not just say that from the jump and avoid all the speculation? And why was he given an unprecedented extension/bonuses with multiple years left on his deal if he wasn’t holding out, while Darius Slay very publicly and vocally was holding out for a new contract but got diddly-poo? That’s quite the Jedi mind trick he pulled off there. He got an unsolicited raise just for not showing up to work. Who says the Lions organization isn’t good to their players?

As someone who has three kids of his own, I know first hand how hard it can be to be a stud in the workplace and take care of your business at home. But somehow you find a way to get it done, because that’s what grown-ups do. Working hard doesn’t make you a lesser husband or father. Harrison wasn’t at OTAs or minicamp because he chose not to be there, and it played a massive role in his disappointing year and uncertain future. Plain and simple. You don’t go from being the best in the game four years straight to a replacement-level player just by having an off-year, particularly at a position where performance doesn’t vary wildly from season-to-season.

Holding-out was the choice Harrison made, and it looked like it might work out well for him, until it didn’t. It is all too convenient to come out now, after a disastrous season, and use the “family man” crutch to mask what was a business decision. We’re all family men. You still have to go out and do your job.

The end

On Tuesday it became official: The Lions were releasing Damon “Snacks” Harrison, just six short months after signing him to an extension. Detroit will now head into free agency and draft season with an extra $6 million from the divorce, and upwards of $53 million total in available cap space. They also have one more giant hole to fill.

Bob Quinn’s reasoning for the decision to cut Harrison was pretty cut and dry and essentially amounts to “When we extended him he was good. Now he’s not.” Can he return to his All-Pro form of previous years? Possibly. Would I bet on it? Absolutely not. They can’t afford to risk a repeat of 2019 in what could be a make-or-break year for the front office (notice I said “could be” – don’t believe the win-now narrative).

I have no issues with admitting your mistakes and correcting your past decisions when new information presents itself. It’s the opposite of being stubborn and hard-headed. At this point, a lot of things would have to break right for Harrison to return to the dominant run-stuffer we fell in love with. He would have to get his head and heart back in the game and shake the retirement thoughts. He would have to recommit to preparing his body for the rigors of an NFL season, which is easier said than done for a 350lb guy on the wrong side of 30.

Interestingly, Harrison is calling the split “mutual”. I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt on this comment, as he can’t possibly be delusional enough to think getting released after being given a contract extension, having a dog shit year, and contemplating retirement is what’s in his best interests. The mutual comment is likely just him trying to spin the narrative to land the best possible deal from his next employer (he has reportedly said he wants to continue playing).  

What did we learn?

Harrison became a high-maintenance player in Detroit in a hurry. His contract status, attendance, and emotional exit will be a wet blanket on a Lions career that ended quicker than anyone could have imagined. We got the best of Snacks and the worst of Snacks in our brief time together. Unfortunately, winning didn’t accompany any of it. 

Professional football is a business, and everyone is looking out for their own bank accounts. Rightfully so, to an extent. This is an old-school, archaic take, but I find it refreshing when guys just handle their business on the field and let the money work itself out. Your play determines your value. Harrison let outside factors affect his on-field performance, and while he got some extra cash in the short-term, he is now looking for work. Depending on the details of his next contract, this could end up being a net loss for Harrison, and he has no one to blame but himself. Not Bob Quinn. Not Matt Patricia. Not Martha Ford. The Lions rewarded him, and his play betrayed that decision. No one could have seen this ending the way it did, and it will only make Quinn all the more frugal when handing out contract extensions in the future (something he is already criticized for). 

That being said, Harrison is by all accounts a good man who will be missed by many. As I have with Andre Drummond and Reggie Jackson before him – the other high-profile athletes to unceremoniously leave Detroit in recent weeks – I will attempt to end this relationship on a positive note. 

Snacks posted a heartfelt message to the fans and the city, showing how much he appreciated the people of Detroit in his short stint with the Lions. I can always respect someone who appreciates how difficult it is to be a supporter of professional sports in this town. 

Thank you for speaking so highly of my city. Not everyone who leaves does, and it reflects well on the person you are. Good luck in your future endeavors, Mr. Snacks.

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