Raiders safety Erik Harris signs ‘life-changing’ contract

OAKLAND, Calif. — The Harris household can be a hectic place.

Raiders safety Erik Harris and wife Theresa have 5-year-old twin boys, a 2-year-old girl and 5-month-old boy. Around 3:30 a.m. Friday, one twin vomited on the stairs in their Louisiana home, Harris said. The other twin threw up shortly thereafter. On Thursday, Theresa brought a puppy home from a grocery store parking lot, so now the dog is being housetrained.

The third boy is very much a toddler.

“I left that out,” Harris said Friday. “He peed on me this morning. I was changing his diaper; he peed all over our bed. So, there’s lots of covers to wash.”

Amid the frenzy, Harris is at peace. He knows his family is secure.

On Thursday evening, the Raiders safety signed a two-year contract extension worth up to $6.5 million. Harris, 28, called the financial ramifications for his family “life-changing,” expressing additional gratitude to the organization for the value it placed on his character and leadership.

Harris played five defensive snaps in his first two NFL seasons.

In 2018, under coach Jon Gruden, his ability — not pedigree as a former Canadian Football League player — dictated his opportunity. He saw 433 reps on defense and a team-high 376 snaps on special teams. He is expected to retain his role as a core special teamer while continuing to figure into the mix in the secondary.

The team plans to sign a veteran to start opposite safety Karl Joseph in the base defense.

This week, the Raiders placed a one-year tender worth $2.025 million on Harris as a restricted free agent. The contract he signed instead pays him up to $3.25 million in 2019 when including possible playing-time incentives, and it includes $2.5 million in guarantees, a person familiar with the agreement said.

When Harris signed the offer Thursday, that was its own ordeal.

“It was 8 or 9 o’clock at night,” Harris said in a conference call with Raiders reporters. “We’re trying to get a family picture, get everybody together, put jerseys on people and have a picture of me signing, send the contract over. We ran out of ink in the printer. So then a friend saves us and prints it off for me, runs it over to our house. I sign it, scan it to send it in. The scanner is not connecting to the computer, so that’s not working.

“It’s 11:30 p.m. I’m trying to figure it out. Finally sent it over, get to bed around 12:30 a.m.”

Then came the smelly stairs.

Never a dull moment.

The contract provides an important checkpoint to Harris’ success story. He spent three seasons in the CFL as a Hamilton Tiger-Cat, a run that followed having gone undrafted out of Division II school California University of Pennsylvania. He worked as a corn flour mixer at a potato chip factory before trying out for the Canadian team.

After the CFL, he spent one season with the New Orleans Saints. The Raiders signed him in September 2017 when he was cut after the preseason. He is now scheduled to remain with the franchise through its 2020 relocation to Las Vegas.

“To have the stability and know that my kids are set up for life,” Harris said, “it’s just life-changing.”

More Raiders: Follow at reviewjournal.com/Raiders and @NFLinVegas on Twitter.

Contact reporter Michael Gehlken at mgehlken@reviewjournal.com. Follow @GehlkenNFL on Twitter.