A seventh-round pick out of Illinois State, Shelby Harris has turned into one of the NFL's most durable interior pass rushers with 28.5 career sacks.
Shelby Harris is entering his twelfth NFL season after building a reputation as an undersized but relentless defensive tackle who has bounced between the interior and edge across five franchises. A Milwaukee native who transferred to Illinois State after a redshirt year at Wisconsin, Harris has outlasted his draft slot by a wide margin, logging 146 career games and nearly 30 sacks from the trenches.
Path to the league
Harris starred at Illinois State from 2010-2012, earning First-Team All-Missouri Valley Football Conference honors as a senior after ranking fifth in the conference with 16 tackles for loss. The Oakland Raiders took him in the seventh round (235th overall) of the 2014 NFL Draft.
Career highlights
After two years in Oakland, Harris found his footing with the Denver Broncos from 2017-2021, developing into a reliable interior disruptor who could also kick outside to defensive end. He was traded to Seattle in 2022 before signing with Cleveland in 2023. Across his career he has piled up 358 tackles, 28.5 sacks, 40 pass deflections and an interception.
2025 season recap
Harris played all 17 games for Cleveland in 2025, starting five, and finished with 32 tackles, 7 tackles for loss, 1.0 sack and 4 passes defensed. It marked a lighter statistical season by his standards but showed he could still hold up as a rotational interior lineman deep into his career.
Sources
- Wikipedia: Shelby Harris
- Pro Football Reference: Shelby Harris
Statistics
2025 season and career2025 Season · Defense
17 games played▶Defense · career
| Year | Team | GP | TOT | SOLO | SACK | INT | FF | FR | PD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | browns | 17 | 32 | 15 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| 2024 | browns | 14 | 37 | 18 | 1.5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 2023 | browns | 17 | 28 | 17 | 1.5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 |
| 2022 | seahawks | 15 | 44 | 24 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| 2021 | broncos | 16 | 49 | 24 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 2020 | broncos | 11 | 32 | 20 | 2.5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 7 |
| 2019 | broncos | 16 | 49 | 28 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 9 |
| 2018 | broncos | 16 | 39 | 23 | 1.5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| 2017 | broncos | 16 | 34 | 22 | 5.5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| 2015 | raiders | 7 | 12 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2014 | raiders | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Player Profile
Background
- Position
- Defensive Tackle
- Group
- defense
- College
- Illinois State
- Hometown
- Milwaukee, WI, USA
- Age
- 35
- Status
- active
