Green Bay Packers: Snacks Harrison Impresses in Debut

He was only with the Green Bay Packers for a few days, but we saw Damon ‘Snacks’ Harrison for 12 snaps on Sunday, and he impressed.

What a whirlwind of a week it was for Damon ‘Snacks’ Harrison. On Monday, December 28th, the Seattle Seahawks waived him upon his request. Then on Wednesday, Harrison was claimed by the Green Bay Packers; he was at practice on Thursday and playing meaningful snaps on Sunday in Chicago.

This is a Packers’ run defense that has been trending in the right direction since they faced Indianapolis in Week 11. And the addition of Harrison in the middle is only supposed to help.

In his prime, Snacks was an All-Pro and player that many would consider the best run-stuffer in the NFL, ranking first among interior defensive linemen in Pro Football Focus’ ($) run-stop percentage metric from 2014 to 2018. While he may not be that player anymore, in a rotational role, he can still be quite effective, and we saw that on display against the Bears.

Despite only being a Packer for a few days, Harrison played 12 snaps against Chicago, six against the run, and six against the pass. He’s never been known as a pass rusher by any means, and there will be games like Sunday where he doesn’t fill the stat sheet; in fact, he didn’t register a single stat. But that doesn’t mean his presence isn’t felt.

There were two plays in particular where Harrison flew into the backfield, redirecting the running back. He’s also able to help keep the linebackers clean at the second level, freeing them up to make plays, and on Sunday, he was able to give Kenny Clark some snaps off.

Because Harrison had been apart of just a few practices, Defensive Coordinator Mike Pettine kept things simple. This is a different system than what Harrison has played in previously, with different responsibilities and new techniques to learn.

"“Here’s a guy that’s an ultimate pro,” Pettine said via Packers News. “He’s very conscientious and he knows that we play blocks a little bit differently than how he’s used to.“So, that’s a habit. He trained to do something, it’s muscle memory. So, he’s a little frustrated with it but you can tell, this is a conscientious guy that wants to not just do his job but excel at it. So, we’re thrilled he’s here.”"

This is why he was on the field for just 12 snaps and lined up at only the 0 or 1 technique — nose tackle — even though he has the ability to play 3-tech as does Clark. Although we didn’t see Harrison and Clark on the field together this past week, doing so in the playoffs could help Clark escape the constant double-teams that he faces and further stress the offensive line. This is another benefit of having Snacks on the field that won’t always show up on the stat sheet.

It was a very small sample size, but we saw this past week what Harrison can add to the defensive front. With the Green Bay Packers on a well-deserved bye week, that means some additional practice time for Snacks to continue familiarizing himself with this defense. And as Matt LaFleur pointed out earlier this week, we are certainly going to see more of him moving forward:

"“He’s definitely somebody that we want to get in there much more because I think he can provide a lot of value to us,” coach Matt LaFleur said via Packers News. “I mean, the guy got here on Wednesday or whenever it was playing on a game on Sunday. So, I would look for him to get more snaps.”"