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Oct
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Posted by The Jazzy One
October 23, 2008 | 1 Comment
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And now let’s look at the other side of the ball.
Vikings fans, meet Napoleon Harris…. again
(Bio info taken from wikipedia article found here)
February 25, 1979 in Chicago, Illinois) is an American football linebacker for the Minnesota Vikings of the National Football League. He was drafted by the Oakland Raiders 23rd overall in the 2002 NFL Draft. He played college football at Northwestern.Harris has also played for the Kansas City Chiefs.
Harris attended Thornton Township High School in Harvey, Illinois and lettered in football and basketball. In football, he posted 23 sacks, 98 tackles, two fumble recoveries, 1 forced fumbles, two safeties, and one interception and was named the Defensive Player of the Year by the Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, Star Publications, Daily Southern, and the Hammond Times. Napoleon also averaged 18 points and 10 rebounds on the #1 basketball team in the country. Harris was a football and basketball teammate of current Washington Redskins wide receiver Antwaan Randle El.
He played both football and basketball (one year) at Northwestern. His complete college career ranked 11th on Northwestern’s all-time tackles list with 334. All-Big Ten Conference as a senior after starting all 11 games at defensive end after moving from outside linebacker and ranked fourth on team in tackles with 78.
Harris was drafted in the first round of the 2002 draft by the Oakland Raiders, the 23rd overall pick. That year he started 13 of 16 regular-season games and all three playoff games for the Super Bowl XXXVII runner-up Oakland Raiders and was named to the Pro Football Weekly All-Rookie team.
In 2005, Harris was acquired by the Minnesota Vikings as part of blockbuster trade which sent Randy Moss to Oakland for the seventh overall pick and a seventh-round pick in the 2005 NFL Draft. The Vikings used the picks to select wide receiver Troy Williamson and cornerback Adrian Ward, respectively]].
Despite being traded for one of the premier players in the National Football League, Napoleon Harris did not immediately live up to his potential in the following season with the Minnesota Vikings. In his first season with the Vikings, he was hampered with a lingering knee injury in which he saw limited playing time. However in the second season he finished second on the team with 96 tackles 3 interceptions, 3.5 sacks and two fumble recoveries in 14 games according to the Minnesota Vikings team statistics.
On March 6, 2007, Harris agreed to a six-year deal with the Kansas City Chiefs. Harris previously visited the Tampa Bay Buccaneers before meeting with Kansas City.[1][2]
On October 14, 2008 the Chiefs released Harris.
Just two days after his release from the Chiefs, Harris re-joined the Minnesota Vikings on October 16, 2008.
Napoleon grew up in Dixmoor IL, attended Lincoln Elementary School, Rosa L. Parks Middle School, and Thornton Township High School. Napoleon was a tri-star athlete,and honor student. Napoleon’s father passed away his Junior year of high school, forcing him to become the “man of the house” while taking care of his mother Brenda Harris, his sister Tomeika Harris-Anderson, and his brother Jonathan Harris. Napoleon is the oldest of the three children. His mother Brenda adopted two children in 1998 Jermell and Edward Harris. On and off the field, Napoleon is a great leader as well as a model citizen. June 2006, Napoleon married his high school friend Nicole Bunton (Harris) to this union Napoleon Harris IV was born (Feb. 23, 2008). Napoleon is a great husband and loving father to his family. Family is very important to Napoleon. Napoleon also manages his own personal website [1] Napoleon is the Founder and CEO of the Napoleon Harris Foundation which focuses on inner-city youth. Napoleon work countless hours to helping others. On his spare time, he enjoys golfing, spending time with his wife and son, as well as taking time to visit with his niece (Alexandria) and nephew (Jonathan Jr.)
Napoleon Harris is famous to most Vikings fans as being the guy we got for Randy Moss. His first year as a Viking wasn’t thrilling by any means, but in 2006 he established himself as a decent starting middle linebacker for Minnesota. He had a good enough season that he got a handful of offers to start for other teams when his contract was up at the end of the year.
When Superman… uh… I mean… EJ Henderson went down with injuries earlier this season, the Vikings found themselves desperate for solid players. As luck would have it, the Chiefs would cut Harris around the same time.
Harris was a great pickup for the Vikings, because even though he hadn’t played in Leslie Fraiser’s defensive system, he had played in Mike Tomlin’s under Childress, and the systems are fairly similar. He shared time with Dontarious Thomas this past week (his first week back with the Vikings), and after the bye week he’ll probably get his starting job back, moving Thomas back to the floating sub position that he worked so well last year.
Comments
That Moss deal didn’t work out for both teams. Napolean showed alot of promise in Oakland, but from what I saw he flopped in Minni. Do you thinkl he is a different player now?