FRISCO (105.3 The Fan) - Damon "Snacks'' Harrison and his wife Alexis spent the offseason planning on the birth of another child - "our third under the age of four,'' the free-agent defensive tackle tells me - and that blessing, in a COVID-19 time, was enough to cause the Harrisons, who live in DFW, to not hurry back into the NFL.
But it also caused them to wish that his return would come with his home-area Dallas Cowboys.
"It's home for me,'' Harrison tells me in a just-after-midnight Tuesday conversation.
"I'd love to play close to home. It'd alleviate some stress on my wife.
"Dallas was my No. 1 choice.''
But instead, the 6-3, 350-pound premium run-stopper, a former All-Pro now 31 and planning to "be lighter (in weight) than I've ever been to start a season,'' is set to visit the Seattle Seahawks and the Green Bay Packers in the coming days.
Josina Anderson was first to report that he's locked in visits to Seattle and Green Bay. Harrison confirms those plans to me, and says other teams are calling as well.
But not the Cowboys.
In March, we reported exclusively that Dallas had "made unofficial contact'' regarding the idea of pursuing Harrison, who'd been released by Detroit. But the club never called agent Drew Rosenhaus and that was the end of it, especially as the Cowboys proceeded to sign defensive tackles Gerald McCoy and Dontari Poe.
McCoy is now out for the season and Poe is part of a Dallas defense that in terms of points allowed is the poorest in the NFL and the poorest in franchise history.
In Sunday's Week 4 loss to the Browns, Cleveland rushed for 307 yards - another Cowboys franchise record.
In one attempt at an explanation, defensive lineman DeMarcus Lawrence says the Cowboys defense is "soft.''
In another ...
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"We're not stopping the run,'' conceded Cowboys COO Stephen Jones in a Monday visit with 105.3 The Fan. "(But) I believe they're very capable. I think it's just getting the technique right, getting what we want them to accomplish. We've seen all of these (defensive tackles) do it, whether it's (Antwaun) Woods, whether it's Poe, whether it's Trysten Hill. ... But it's just we've got to go to work.
There's no excuses to be had here. We're not playing winning football and we have to be better."
Harrison's wish is to join a contender; both Seattle and Green Bay are 4-0, while the Cowboys are 1-3. But he grew up a Cowboys fan in New Iberia, Louisiana.
"Oh, me on the Cowboys, I would've been a hero back in New Iberia - that's Cowboys Country - and here in my (DFW) neighborhood as well,'' Harrison said. "I just know wherever I end up with get the best version of me.''