Al Harris enters his first season with the Bears in 2025.
A 15-year NFL veteran in the secondary, earning All-Pro honors and two Pro Bowl selections as a cornerback, Harris has spent the last 13 seasons as a coach, most recently serving as assistant head coach/defensive backs for the Dallas Cowboys in 2024, a role that he was elevated to after leading Dallas' secondary since 2020. Over the last four seasons, Harris' Cowboys defensive backs helped Dallas own the most interceptions by any team in the NFL over the four-year span, amassing a league-high 72 interceptions from 2021-24.
Harris' guidance helped the Cowboys own the No. 5 and No. 8-ranked pass defense in the NFL in 2023 (187.4) and 2022 (200.9), respectively. On top of success as a unit, Harris has been instrumental in the development of CB Trevon Diggs and the continued growth of CB DaRon Bland. Under Harris, Diggs accumulated two Pro Bowl selections and an AP First-Team All-Pro nod (2021), as Bland set an NFL record with five interceptions returned for a touchdown in 2023, while also leading the league in interceptions (nine). In 2021, Diggs secured an NFL-best 11 interceptions, tied for the most by any player in a single season in Cowboys history, en route to an All-Pro acknowledgement with Harris' support. Diggs became the first Cowboys cornerback to earn Pro Bowl recognition in back-to-back years since Hall of Famer Deion Sanders (1996-99). As a rookie in 2020, Diggs led all Cowboys defenders in interceptions (three) and passes defensed (14).
Prior to Dallas, Harris spent one season as a defensive assistant at Florida Atlantic University (2019) following a six-year stretch with the Kansas City Chiefs. Starting as a defensive assistant in 2013, Harris contributed to a Chiefs team that went to the playoffs in five of his six seasons, collecting three AFC West Division titles, including an AFC Championship appearance in 2018. Coaching the defensive backfield, Harris oversaw a group that finished top-10 in the league in interception all but one of his six seasons, including a No. 1 ranking in 2016 (19 interceptions) and a top-three finish in both 2013 (T-3rd, 21). and 2015 (2nd, 22). Under Harris' guidance, Marcus Peters totaled 19 interceptions in his three seasons with the Chiefs (2015-17), the most by any player in the NFL over that span. Harris entered the coaching ranks in 2012 as a Coaching Intern with the Miami Dolphins.
Harris played 15 seasons in the NFL, appearing in over 200 career games (postseason included), tallying 21 interceptions for the Philadelphia Eagles (1998-2002), Green Bay Packers (2003-09), Miami Dolphins (2010) and St. Louis Rams (2011) after being selected by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 1997. A member of the Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame, Harris earned two Pro Bowl selections (2007 and '08) and was an AP Second-Team All-Pro selection in 2007 in 2007 with the Packers. Harris started his career on the Tampa Bay practice squad in 1997. before signing with Philadelphia in 1998, appearing as the team's nickel cornerback for five years and playing in two NFC Championship games (2001 and 2002). Harris finished his playing career with one season each in Miami (2010) and with the St. Louis Rams (2011).
Prior to the NFL, Harris led the defensive backfield at Texas A&M-Kingsville (1995-96), where he was a first-team All-Lone Star Conference selection in 1996 after starting his tenure at Trinity Valley Community College in Athens, Texas, where he was a member of a National Championship team.
Harris and his wife, Shyla, have four children – Lyla, Al Jr., Gavin and Gage.
