Last week, Minnesota Vikings fans were handed the news about Anthony Barr retiring from the NFL, and he apparently isn't the only Mike Zimmer-era defender to recently close the door on his pro football career.
During a recent episode of the "Access Vikings" podcast, former Vikings safety Anthony Harris revealed that his time in the NFL has come to an end and he shared what he's been up to these days now that he's not spending the majority of his life on a football field.
"Playing years are done. A year after being [with the Denver Broncos in 2022], I took [2023] and just continued to work out, and I said, 'After this year, I'm done.'
So the following year, which was last year, I did a little bit in the coaching space. I helped out with the [Philadelphia] Eagles during training camp to kind of see if that was something that I wanted to get into.
Then after that, I kind of moved on to doing things in the real estate space, in the financial space, and that's been great for me.”
Former Minnesota Vikings safety Anthony Harris retires from the NFL
Following a college career at the University of Virginia, Harris joined Minnesota in 2015 as an undrafted rookie, and he spent the majority of his first season in the NFL on the Vikings' practice squad.
Most of his time on the field in the early part of his career with Minnesota was spent on special teams and as a fill-in starter, but in 2019, after the Vikings moved on from safety Andrew Sendejo, Harris was finally given the opportunity to be the team's other full-time starting safety next to Harrison Smith.
As a permanent fixture in Minnesota's starting lineup, Harris definitely made the most of his increase in snaps on the defensive side of the ball in 2019 and 2020.
With the Vikings in the 2019 season, he finished with 60 tackles, 11 pass breakups, and six interceptions, including a 20-yard pick-six against the Seattle Seahawks in Week 13. Harris then followed that up with a 2020 performance for Minnesota in which he accumulated 104 tackles and seven pass breakups.
Harris's tenure with the Vikings ended in the 2021 offseason when he signed a one-year deal to play for the Philadelphia Eagles. In total, he appeared in 81 games during a six-year span with Minnesota.