First Impressions: Demetrius Harris Likes What He Sees of Mitchell Trubisky
Bears tight end Demetrius Harris is learning a little about perception and reality, while also realizing it's easier to fit in quickly when you know something and someone.
Harris knew coach Matt Nagy when he signed as a free agent prior even to the start of free agency after being cut by the Cleveland Browns, because he knew his coach from their days together in Kansas City. So he also knows this Bears offense as a former Andy Reid player.
The reality Harris has found of quarterback Mitchell Trubisky is obviously not one portrayed by media or social media because Harris sounded almost like he was trying to provide an endorsement when he spoke Wednesday about the Bears' incumbent quarterback during a teleconference with media.
"He's a hard worker, man," Harris said of Trubisky. "I like him. What I see, I like him. Me personally, I like him.
"I don't see nothing wrong with him, coming in, knowing him, I just met him. I like him, what I have seen."
Trubisky has widely been held out as a scapegoat for what happened to the Bears last year and it's been all but assumed by national media Nick Foles will be the Bears quarterback.
Meanwhile, Trubisky is working. He's throwing to Harris and has been throwing to Allen Robinson II, Tarik Cohen and David Montgomery, as well, as players get together on their own for impromptu workouts.
"We just do routes, man," Harris said. "Mitch hit us up, we do routes. That's it. The vibe is always a good vibe. When I'm around, man, the vibe gonna be good.
"We put the music on, man, we enjoy the energy, we run routes and he do his thing. And then we mostly run routes. The time limit, is no time limit. Sometimes we'll be running routes for two, 2 1/2 (hours), getting it in. There ain't no time limit. We go until we're like, OK, it's it. There's no time limit to it. We just all work."
Harris reiterated his lack of previous knowledge about Trubisky.
"I really, shoot, that's all I do, play football," Harris said. "I didn't really watch it outside of it because that's what you do all day. I really didn't know too much about him and what he was going into. What I seen, work ethic, man, just trying to get on the same page as me and the other guys, really trying to hit the ground running. We all fighting for something.
"Every day we get together, we work hard. We have fun, have the music playing and get to it every day. It don't matter if it's morning, we just all get to it and we all want to be better and get better on our craft."
There have been very few who question Trubisky's work ethic. It's his results which haven't quite lived up to the effort going into it all.
Harris is elated to be back working with Nagy. Last year he caught 15 passes with Cleveland, but his experience as a "Y" tight end in the Chiefs' offense for five years prior gave him a good dose of the Bears' coach. He has 72 career receptions, with nine for touchdowns.
He sees the same coach trying to negotiate through the difficult times of national racial strife while coaching a team mixed with black and white athletes.
"It's Nags man. He's a lovable person, man," Harris said. "He welcomed me with open arms and he just tries to see the perspective of the players and the players' side. He's a very good spoken players coach, and I love Nags for that.
"He lets the players, how they're feeling, be their selves. There are not a lot of coaches you can be around that you can be yourself without feeling weird. But with Nags, man, you feel the love with Nags and he's got a good bond with him. He just approaches it like how it is, man. We're just preparing every day the same and just trying to get better and do without everything that's going on and stuff."
Knowing the coach and offense helps Harris fit in when he doesn't really know many teammates since there has been no formal offseason on-field work.
The offense has been like an old friend, actually.
"Just feeling it, man, just going off the KC days, the plays the similarity, man, and just going under seeing him as an offensive coordinator and going under coach Reid and just knowing how of an offensive guru coach Reid is and knowing Nags really learned from him," Harris said. "Coach Reid, I just talked to him yesterday, he taught me a lot, him and Nagy. Coach Reid was like a scientist to the offense and you could see it in Nagy, I see the same thing that I saw in coach Reid.
"And I'm still learning. There's still a lot of stuff that I'm learning for the offense because I left for a year and now I'm back in the offense. It's just learning everything. I already know the ins and outs of the offense, but there's still more to learn in this west coast offense."
After the Bears signed Harris, Nagy talked about how he can fit into the red zone offense, and how a 6-foot-7, 230-pound former college basketball player has become a respected blocker.
Harris has never broken through past 18 receptions in a year, but thinks it's possible because of his familiarity with the system and Nagy.
"I mean that's something I think, that's something I know I can do," Harris said. "And I know a coach that believed in me and knows I can do it, too, that seen me through the years that I've been coming up in KC and has seen the growth in me.
"So yeah, I most definitely can do it and I'm going to do it. So that's one thing I wanted to improve on and I did and last year going back to Cleveland that's like probably one of my best passing seasons, you know what I'm saying? So yeah coming off of that yeah I most definitely am ready for anything that comes my way."
Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven
