Jets DC Chris Harris: ‘A Phenomenal Moment’
One of the highlights of the 8-year NFL playing career of the Jets’ new defensive coordinator Chris Harris happened on the game’s biggest stage — the Super Bowl.
It was Feb. 2, 2007 at Dolphin Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla., when Harris’ Bears faced QB Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts in Super Bowl XLI. It was a cloudy, rainy and an unseasonably cool 67-degree day in South Florida when Chicago got off the quickest start possible — Devin Hester returned the opening kickoff 92 yards for a TD to give the Bears the early lead.
On the seventh play of the Colts’ first drive, a Manning pass intended for Marvin Harrison was picked off by Harris, a free safety, at Chicago’s 30-yard line and returned 6 yards.
“It was a phenomenal moment,” Harris said on Thursday. “Probably one of the best moments of my NFL career is to be able to get in the Super Bowl and get an interception in the biggest game of my career against a Hall of Fame quarterback, Peyton Manning. So it’s pretty [was a] sweet moment.”
Manning would go on to complete 25-of-38 passes for 247 yards and a TD (to Reggie Wayne) in the Colts’ 29-17 victory.
1 Stop on Brady Cook’s ‘Tour’
QB Brady Cook made only one “30 visit” before the 2025 NFL Draft, stopping in to meet and greet at 1 Jets Drive. The Missouri product then sat back at the end of April and watched as 257 players were selected by 32 teams through seven rounds of the draft. He was not among them.
“It was my only ’30 visit,’ and I definitely felt alignment when I took a visit here,” Cook said. “I met with AG, I met with [OC] Tanner [Engstrand], I met with the whole staff, and I felt alignment. And it’s been exactly what I expected since I showed up, exactly what they said they were going to do, they did. And this is why I chose the Jets opportunity, and because I believed in AG.
“That’s how the pre-draft process went for me. Obviously I went undrafted. I didn’t have as much hype in that process. And I think it worked out.”
Cook signed with the Jets as an UDFA on May 9, was waived on Aug. 26 as part of the team’s final roster cuts, then signed to the practice squad. He was elevated to the active roster in early December when Justin Fields was inactive ahead of the Week 14 game against Miami and was thrust into the game, with the Jets trailing, 21-0, when Tyrod Taylor sustained a groin injury. He will be making his second start of his NFL career Sunday at New Orleans.
“I had a couple [of opportunities] and was deciding between a few teams,” he said. “And obviously the Jets were the only team I took a visit to. So I had a relationship with the staff, I kind of knew what their vision was and where they saw me in the picture, and it was a pretty easy decision.”