According to the St. Louis Dispatch, the Lions have traded WR Ronald Curry to the Rams in return for DT Orien Harris. Harris himself was acquired by the Rams in a trade with the Bengals on May 7th. A 2006 fourth-round draft pick of the Pittsburgh Steelers, the younger brother of Raiders OT Kwame Harris has also been on the rosters of the Browns, Bills, and Saints during his two seasons in the NFL.
Born in Jamaica and educated at the University of Miami, the 6’-3”, 300 pounds Harris garnered 14 tackles in 14 games for the Bengals last season, including his lone career start. Wherever he goes, his production at Miami (11 career sacks, honorable mention All-ACC his senior year) is touted as a sign of great potential—but sooner or later it seems as though he’s on the move again.
The New Orleans Times-Picayune ran a nice article extolling his preseason production, attitude, and work ethic—and of course, he never played a regular-season down for the Saints. Harris is quite the enigma, flashing potential—and occasionally, production—wherever he goes, and yet never catching on. Unfortunately for him, the Lions have had a surplus of 300-pound DTs, and still have a need for bigger bodies. Free agent DT John Thornton fits the slimmer mold--but he walked away from a deal with the Lions, in part because he didn’t want to gain the weight.
Like the Gerald Alexander-for-Dennis Northcutt deal, the Lions appear to be parting with a player they didn’t think could get very high on the depth chart, and receiving a player at a thinner spot. Coincidentally, it’s that very deal that might have made the Lions consider Curry expendable. Now if the Lions can deal Landon Cohen or Ikaika Alama-Francis for a third or fourth cornerback, we’ll be getting somewhere.
Discuss it here, in The Den!
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