'They keep me young': Veteran Shelby Harris enjoys leading Browns young defensive linemen

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BEREA — Shelby Harris is the ultimate pro athlete paradox.
The Browns' veteran defensive tackle is 33 years old. In two weeks, on Aug. 11, he's going to turn 34.
In pro football terms, or in general pro athlete terms, is considered "old." Look pretty much anywhere else, and being 33-going-on-34 is the prime of life.
Harris knows that as well as anyone.
"Man, I'm young, too," Harris said following the Browns' ninth training camp practice Aug. 2. "You got to think about it, at the end of the day in life, being 33, about to turn 34, that's young. So this football stuff ages us."
Harris — who was selected by the Oakland Raiders in the seventh round of the 2014 draft, the same one in which the Browns selected Joel Bitonio in the second round — isn't afraid to lean into the old-guy bit either. The man they call "Unc" around the Browns was coming out to the field for one of the first open training camp practice when he yelled out to no one in particular, "Here comes the old man."
The father of four children, the oldest an 18-year-old daughter Kamaya, who'll be playing softbal at Fort Hays State University. The youngest is a 4-year-old son Shelby Jr., who was born near the end of his father's fourth season with the Denver Broncos.
Those four children are in addition to the other "kids" in his life. Those are the collection of 20-somethings he shared a defensive line meeting room with on a daily basis with the Browns.
"I just think it's cool because you got to think, I got a daughter about to go to college and these dudes just got out of college," Harris said. "It's a full circle moment. But I embrace it, though. They keep me young. I love it because I hear music I don't hear all the time, and it's just little things like that where you appreciate what the young players can bring to the table. I just think that everybody brings something a little bit unique and a little bit different and it's all welcomed."
A look around the Browns' defensive line shows just how young the position group is comparative to Harris. He and 30-year-old defensive tackle Maliek Collins are the only two whose age starts with a number three, although All-Pro Myles Garrett will turn 30 on Dec. 29, the same day Harris' youngest son turns 5.
The rest of the group? The ones the Browns have invested the most in are not too far removed from just becoming legal to drink: 21-year-old rookie Mason Graham, 22-year-old second-year pro Mike Hall Jr. and a pair of 24-year-old defensive ends Alex Wright and Isaiah McGuire.
Harris won't go as fas as to say the youthful group of defensive linemen has left him feeling 10 years younger or anything like that. He will say that it's left the nearly 34-year-old veteran with a youthful spirit, and in a way, giving him a new connection to his own kids as well.
"Football years, the kids are young and then I'm telling you, like, having an 18-year-old, I'd be listening to stuff," Harris said. "I'm like, what the hell did that come from? And that's why I just think it's cool, because we always talk about it, me and my wife will, but like, half these kids are closer to my daughter's age than they are to my age. And so I just think this is a cool moment where I can go up there and still kind of be one of the guys, even though I'm older, and then I gotta go home and be dad to pretty much the same age."
Harris' isn't playing like he's in his mid 30s, at least not over the first nine days of training camp. That's coming off a second season in Cleveland that was cut short by a Week 15 elbow injury, although he still managed to record 1.5 sacks, five tackles for loss, forced one fumble and nine combined pressures in the season.
Over his first two years with the Browns, Harris has recorded five passes batted at the line of scrimmage, giving him 21 over his career. He's contined that going into his latest training camp, including the rejection of rookie quarterback Dillon Gabiel early in Saturday's practice.
"Back to my Denver days, they've always put an emphasis on, at least if you can see the quarterback's eyes, get your hands up, if you're not going to get the sack, at least make something happen," Harris said. z{I didn't even realize they were on Dillon, but that's just something I've always done. I've led the league a couple times in batted balls, and so it's just something that the more you can do. That's the way I look at it."
Chris Easterling can be reached at [e-mail]. Read more about the Browns at www.beaconjournal.com/sports/browns. Follow him on X at @ceasterlingABJ
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Shelby Harris 'feels young' around youthful Browns defensive linemen