One Of The Best Broncos Ever Officially Retired Over The Weekend

It's rare in today's NFL for a player to have their entire career with just one team. Gone are the days where - like John Elway - the team that drafts you is the team you play a decade-plus for, then retire and go off into the sunset. In Elway's case, especially as a back-to-back Super Bowl champ.

This past Saturday a different, more recent Super Bowl champ officially hung up his cleats as he returned to Denver after playing for two other teams the last few years, before signing one of those ceremonial one-day contracts to officially retire as a Bronco, the team that gave him his break back in the 2011.

Undrafted cornerback Chris Harris, Jr. was signed by the Broncos that year and by mid-season, he earned a starting role on the defense that ultimately would be transformed into the "No Fly Zone" and ultimately would go on to win Super Bowl 50 at the end of the 2015 season.

He played alongside Broncos greats like Champ Bailey, Peyton Manning, Von Miller, Demarcus Ware and more as the defense under coordinator Wade Phillips was widely considered as one of the best of all time, nearly entirely responsible for propping up a pretty inconsistent Broncos' offense all year, and especially in defeating the Panthers for the organization's third Super Bowl win.

Harris left the team after the 2019 season after playing in Denver for nine years. He went on to sign with the Los Angeles Chargers for two seasons, then played a final year with the New Orleans Saints. He did not play in 2023, and informed the league in March of 2024 of his retirement.

But the Broncos came calling again, and signed him to one of those ceremonial type contracts, officially informing the NFL that he was retiring as a Denver Bronco. The team honored him on the field during the Broncos-Chargers game, which of course, the Broncos lost 23-16.