Will Harris eager to experience Saints culture

The food excited him, the proximity to family excited him, but one thing that stuck out to cornerback Will Harris was the culture of the New Orleans Saints.

Harris signed with the Saints on May 1 after spending the first five years of his career with the Detroit Lions.

“I got the call to come here and I was just ecstatic because you hear about the culture of New Orleans, the city and the team,” Harris said on the New Orleans Saints Podcast earlier in the offseason. “You hear about the culture, you hear about the way you guys play and how much it means to guys who come here and play. You hear so much about what it means to them and the culture that they’ve set over the years here.”

Harris said from the first moment he entered the Ochsner Sports Performance Center he saw players working.

“You see the way guys interact with each other,” Harris said. “You could tell it means a lot to the guys here, man. And the way they work in the classroom, on the field, all the little things, in the weight room, I’m happy to be a part of it and I’m happy to be able to contribute.”

Harris played in 81 regular season games with 40 starts and recorded 230 tackles (164 solo), 1.5 sacks, two interceptions, 14 passes defensed, two forced fumbles, two fumble recoveries and 16 special teams stops in his time in Detroit.

He played under two former Saints coaches in Lions Coach Dan Campbell and defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn. Harris said the two coaches aspired to achieve the same defensive success as the Saints had.

“They brought all of those ways of thinking over to Detroit from New Orleans and they were proud to say it,” he said.

Harris, 6 feet 1 and 206 pounds, noticed that the Saints have been a top defensive unit in recent history with the team finishing in the top 10 in the league for scoring defense for the last four years and said it just “clicked” when he got the call during free agency.

“I take a lot of pride and I’m super appreciative of the fact that them even picking up the phone, you know what I’m saying, to reach out to me to be a part of something like this and I don’t take that lightly at all,” Harris said. “And so, my job on my end, I’m coming every day and just work and work and try to contribute as much as I can.”