New Pittsburgh Steelers LB Malik Harrison has plenty of special teams experience. Steelers Depot’s Dave Bryan shared that Harrison logged over 1,500 special teams snaps during his five-year career with the Baltimore Ravens. It stands to reason that will continue in Pittsburgh under special teams coordinator Danny Smith.
Smith is an icon of the NFL special teams coaching community. And Harrison definitely got a chance to see him in action when the Ravens and Steelers faced off during his time in Baltimore. So, Harrison knew of Smith. But just how much did he know and how much is he looking forward to playing for him?
“Coach [Chris] Horton, he played for him,” said Harrison Thursday during his introductory press conference per the Steelers’ YouTube channel. “So, I definitely got some insiders about Danny. But great coach, always competitive. I see him on the sidelines when I was on the other way. He’ll talk sometimes, but I can tell he’s very passionate about this, and I can’t wait to play for him.”
Ravens special teams coordinator Chris Horton spent time around Danny Smith when Smith was the Washington Commanders’ special teams coordinator. Horton only played three NFL seasons, all with Washington. So, when preparing for the Steelers, it makes sense that Horton would have some thoughts about how Smith runs his units.
Harrison has plenty of experience running against Smith’s units. Harrison logged 46 special teams snaps against the Steelers across the two regular-season games in 2024 and then another 19 during the Wild Card matchup in the playoffs. When Steelers Depot’s Alex Kozora broke down Harrison’s film, he also looked at his special teams experience. And it’s extensive, too. He’s shown plenty of versatility, playing on both coverage and return units.
It makes sense that Smith would embrace Harrison as a core special teamer going forward. But the trend of Harrison logging significant special teams snaps really started back during his college days at Ohio State.
“Special teams always been my heart,” Harrison said. “That’s where I started off at, even at Ohio State. Ohio State, if you won’t play special teams, you not gonna play at all. So, I take pride in special teams, I’ll be back and doing that again.”
Sounds like Malik Harrison is exactly the type of guy Danny Smith wants to coach on special teams.
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