Duron Harmon

Duron Harmon (born January 24, 1991) is an American football safety for the Cleveland Browns of the National Football League (NFL).

While attending Rutgers University, Harmon played for the Rutgers Scarlet Knights football team from 2009 to 2012.

Following his senior season in 2012, he was a first-team All-Big East Conference selection at safety and participated in the NFLPA Collegiate Bowl.

Coming out of Rutgers, Harmon was not one of the 60 defensive backs to receive an invitation to the NFL Scouting Combine.

Drafted by the New England Patriots in the third round of the 2013 NFL Draft after playing college football at Rutgers, Harmon was nicknamed "the Closer" by fans and media for his ability to come up with late, game-sealing interceptions during his Patriots tenure.

Harmon has also played for the Detroit Lions, Atlanta Falcons, and Las Vegas Raiders.

Harmon was raised in Magnolia, Delaware.

He attended Caesar Rodney High School in Camden, Delaware, and played high school football for the Caesar Rodney Riders.

On March 13, 2013, he was one of 17 prospects to attend Rutger's Pro day.

Harmon performed all of the required combine and positional drills for scouts and team representatives from all 32 NFL teams.

At the conclusion of the pre-draft process, Harmon was projected to be a seventh round pick or undrafted free agent by NFL draft experts and scouts.

The New England Patriots selected Harmon in the third round, (91st overall) of the 2013 NFL Draft.

He was the second defensive back selected by the Patriots in 2013, along with Logan Ryan (84th overall).

The selection of Harmon by the Patriots in the third round surprised many draft evaluators and analysts and was seen as a reach.

When his selection was announced, ESPN and the NFL Network failed to play his college highlights as typically done with draft announcements since they weren't expecting him to be drafted.

On May 15, 2013, the New England Patriots signed Harmon to a four-year, $2.711 million contract that included a $533,600 signing bonus.

Throughout training camp, he competed against Adrian Wilson, Steve Gregory, and Tavon Wilson for the job as the starting strong safety after it was left vacant by the departure of Patrick Chung.

Head coach Bill Belichick named Harmon the backup strong safety behind Steve Gregory to start the regular season.

He made his professional regular season debut in the Patriots' Week 2 matchup against the New York Jets and made one tackle in their 13–10 victory.

In Week 8, he deflected a pass and made his first career interception off Ryan Tannehill in their 27–17 victory against the Miami Dolphins.

The following week, he recorded four combined tackles, deflected a pass, and returned an interception by Ben Roethlisberger for 42 yards during their 55–31 victory against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

On November 18, 2013, Harmon earned his first career start in place of Steve Gregory, who suffered an injured finger earlier in the week.

He made three solo tackles in the Patriots' 24–20 loss at the Carolina Panthers.

The following week, he made his second consecutive start the following week and recorded a season-high 11 combined tackles during their 34–31 win against the Denver Broncos.

He finished his rookie season in 2013 with 31 combined tackles (24 solo), four pass deflections, and two interceptions in 15 games and three starts.

Entering training camp in 2014, Harmon was slated to be the starting strong safety after the departure of Steve Gregory.

He competed against Kanorris Davis and Patrick Chung and ultimately lost the job to Chung and was relegated to backup strong safety.

In Week 6, Harmon recorded a season-high three combined tackles during a 37–22 win at the Buffalo Bills.

On December 14, 2014, Harmon returned an interception by Ryan Tannehill for 60-yards as the Patriots defeated the Dolphins 41–13.

In the divisional round of the 2014 playoffs, Harmon intercepted Joe Flacco's pass with less than two minutes remaining in the game allowing the Patriots to hold onto a 35–31 win over the Baltimore Ravens.

"That's the biggest pick of my life," Harmon said after the game.

Harmon and the Patriots would go on to win Super Bowl XLIX over the Seattle Seahawks.

In the 2015 and 2016 seasons, Harmon was mainly used as the Patriots' third safety alongside Devin McCourty and Patrick Chung primarily in nickel and dime packages.

He was ranked the 16th best strong safety prospect in the draft by DraftScout.com.

In the Divisional Round of the 2016 playoffs, Harmon intercepted Houston Texans' quarterback Brock Osweiler—after fellow Rutgers alums Devin McCourty and Logan Ryan each had picks of their own—in a 34–16 victory.

On February 5, 2017, Harmon won his second career Super Bowl championship as the Patriots won Super Bowl LI.

In the game, he had three tackles and the Patriots defeated the Atlanta Falcons by a score of 34–28 in overtime.

The game featured the largest comeback in Super Bowl history as the Patriots trailed by 25 points in the third quarter.

On March 9, 2017, Harmon, who was a free agent at the time, signed a four-year contract worth a maximum of $20 million to remain with the Patriots.

The deal included a $5 million signing bonus and $1.5 million in guaranteed salary.