After missing the entire season, former Raiders team captain signs with the 49ers
Aformer Las Vegas Raiders defensive back is making a comeback. The San Francisco 49ers announced on November 28 that they are signing Erik Harris to the practice squad.
Having spent the previous two seasons with the Atlanta Falcons, Harris, now 33, has not appeared on the pitch this season. He spent his first four seasons as a member of the Raiders as a team captain.
Despite going undrafted in 2012, Harris played for the Canadian Football League’s Hamilton Tiger-Cats until being signed by the New Orleans Saints in 2016. Harris is a great success story. He played for the Raiders for the longest time, starting thirty games in four seasons.
Harris now becomes a part of the 49ers defence, which leads the NFL in points allowed per game at just 15.5. Although he is currently only on the practise squad, his experience may eventually allow him to be added to the active roster. If he can stay with the 49ers, he has never participated in a postseason game in his career. That could change this year.
Antonio Pierce Talks Marcus Peters Move
The writing was on the wall for Marcus Peters after getting benched by the Raiders in the second quarter of the Week 12 matchup against the Kansas City Chiefs. His tackling woes and lack of effort on many plays were too much for the team to overlook.
Peters is a three-time Pro Bowler and is from Oakland, California, where the Raiders used to play. Despite having all that going for him, he couldn’t make it through a full season with the team. Benching and cutting Peters was the hardest move interim head coach Antonio Pierce has had to so far and he had nothing but good things to say about the cornerback following the news of his release.
“During this entire process, M.P. and I had some good conversations,” Pierce said to reporters when he was available to the media on November 27. “When he first came here, I was the linebacker coach. I admire him as a person both on and off the pitch. I admire his performance in this game. Though it’s a business, he acts professionally. Everybody is going to get cut. Everyone of us will lose their job. I mean, you get hired to get fired? He is aware of that, then. I recognise that. We all detest this aspect of business for ourselves.
It’s unclear if Peters will try to play football after turning 33.
It Wasn’t Easy for Antonio Pierce to Cut Marcus Peters
Antonio Pierce is learning on the job right now as he only has a season and a half of NFL coaching experience. His only head coaching experience was at the high school level, which is far different than coaching professionals.
Cutting a big-name player like Marcus Peters wasn’t an easy thing for him to do.
Pierce acknowledged that having to release a player is never easy. “I am not looking forward to that conversation. Detest it. Detest it. It isn’t good. It’s not a pleasant sensation.
Although it seems that the two sides are on good terms, Pierce’s decision to fire Peters does demonstrate that, should he be hired as the head coach on a full-time basis, he is capable of making difficult choices.
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