Today it was all but confirmed that rookie Victor "Macho" Harris has beaten out second year man Quintin Demps for the Eagles starting free safety job. While it hasn't yet been officially announced, Harris was practicing with the first team and Quintin Demps basically confirmed the news when he spoke after practice.
"I'm disappointed in myself," Demps said. "I just have to come out and be ready to play my role. I'm on special teams and we're still competing. I'm going to come in and compete every day. I have to help Macho out as much as I can and be humble about it," Demps said. "It's the National Football League. I had an opportunity, I didn't take advantage of it and I have to take it for what it is."
Demps acknowledged that his comments from last week may have also contributed to his demotion.
"You gotta watch what you say," said Demps. "You can't let frustrations get to you. You have to learn from your mistakes and move on."
He also admitted that he hadn't played with enough consistency throughout the preseason and credited Harris for playing "like he had nothing to lose." I do have to credit Demps for handling his demotion with a lot more professionalism and class than he handled things last week.
"We're all men. We all could tell that I wasn't being consistent enough," Demps said. "There's no sugarcoating it in the NFL. It is what it is. We're still competing. It's still a competition. I just have to go in there and compete everyday. Keep it moving."
Harris was a cornerback at Virgina Tech last year, but obviously has made the transition to safety in the NFL rather well so far. That said, he's still clearly a work in progress and will be a guy to keep a close eye on. If he continues to work as hard as he did in preseason and play with the same intensity, there's every reason to believe he'll be a good safety in this league.
Macho Harris reacted to the news via his twitter,
I'm def living my dream! and I'm blessed to be playing a childs game for a kings ransom!... that's a quote from Sean Taylor btw! One of my Favorite Players of all time!