Ex-Broncos star: Denver players should ‘send a message’ by hitting Patrick Mahomes
Ahead of Super Bowl LIV, Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio encouraged the 49ers to hit Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes even if it resulted in a penalty.
Florio said if Mahomes was starting his slide or was close to the sideline, the 49ers should deliver a hit.
Former Broncos All-Pro cornerback Chris Harris Jr. hopes that’s what Denver players do in the upcoming season.
While on the DNVR Denver Broncos podcast, Harris was asked about the AFC West and he talked about the Chiefs. First off, Harris apparently is not impressed with Chiefs defensive back Trent McDuffie.
“They’re going to be much improved on the O-line and defensively, I think they definitely took a step back with (cornerback L’Jarius) Sneed being gone from last year,” Harris said. “McDuffie having to play more outside right? Some guys can’t move, you know? Some guys can’t transition to play outside and inside. I think McDuffie just fits more better in the slot. So we’ll see how they play them next year. ... I would see them splitting (with) KC. ...
“We can win the AFC West, you know, and be able to dethrone the Chiefs. But somebody has to do it, man. Would this be eight years in a row?”
Podcast host Bennie Fowler said: “Yeah, something like that.”
It’s actually nine straight AFC West titles and the Chiefs are going for 10 in a row in the 2025 season.
Fowler, who is also a former Broncos player, then asked about quarterback Patrick Mahomes and how Harris would plan for the Chiefs.
That’s when Harris said someone should take a shot at Mahomes.
“Can we eliminate the big plays, keep a cap on (receiver Xavier) Worthy, right, and keep Mahomes in the pocket,” Harris said. “Don’t let this guy get out running, scrambling like he does late in the games, right? And I dare one of those guys to hit him, please. You know, somebody has to send a message in that game, and you might get a penalty, right? You never know.
“But we used to kind of send those messages. So somebody has to do it every once in a while.”
Harris was asked about how the Broncos players used to send a message with big hits. He said Denver used to have a bunch of Draymond Greens. That’s a reference to the NBA star who has been suspended six times for his, uh, overly physical play.
“With (Tom) Brady, we hit this guy, I mean, damn near 20 times,” Harris said. “We played Gronk (Rob Gronkowski) in the snow and D-Stew came out of the middle...”
Fowler interjected and said with a laugh: “Yeah, lit him up.”
“It could be something like that that might not even get a penalty,” Harris said.
That was in reference to a 2016 game when Gronkowski was taken off the field on a cart after a questionable hit by Darian Stewart.
Here is that discussion.
This story was originally published May 16, 2025 at 10:06 AM.
