If elected, he will not serve.
“I don’t even know where you all get that I’m a leader,’’ Damon “Snacks’’ Harrison said Thursday after practice.
It is pretty much an accepted belief that Harrison in 2016 emerged almost immediately as a team leader in his first year with the Giants, coming over after four seasons with the Jets. Harrison’s debut with the Giants was a huge success — he was perhaps the best run-stopping defensive lineman in the NFL — and he quickly became a respected voice on the field and in the locker room.
Harrison, though, said he should not be viewed as a team leader and went as far as to insist he would decline the defensive captaincy if he was voted in by his teammates.
“Yes, sir, I would,’’ Harrison said.
Why is that?
“I just want to be that behind-the-scenes guy,’’ Harrison said. “There’s some guys in here, JC [Jonathan Casillas], who have been in the league a long time, who has earned that right. JPP [Jason Pierre-Paul], DRC [Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie] and other guys who do a better job than myself.”
Told he acts like a leader, Harrison said, “How?’’
Leaders can lead by example, show the way by how they carry themselves, he was told.
“If you put it like that I would say yeah,’’ Harrison said. “I call myself the Broadway Bully. I bully bullies, you know? I don’t bully other people, the smaller guys. I help everybody else out. But I’m not a leader, man, I’m not a captain.’’
Casillas was the defensive team captain in 2016.
Harrison is a key component in a defense the Giants believe can be special, a defense that could be capable of sparking a run to the Super Bowl.
“I’ve never been on a championship team so it would be really hard for me to answer that, and I’m not one of the leaders, man, I’m just one of the guys,’’ he said. “We have some really good leaders in this locker room, and it’s not fair to them.’’