Peter King guesses the Denver Broncos will trade Chris Harris Jr.

The Denver Broncos are 2-6 and they could soon be without star cornerback Chris Harris Jr., the subject of trade rumors as we approach the deadline.

Has Chris Harris Jr. played his last game as a member of the Denver Broncos?

Peter King of NBC Sports seems to think so.

In his Monday FMIA column, King wrote about the dysfunction in Denver and mentioned multiple times that the star cornerback could be traded away.

"“If the Broncos could get a sixth pick in the first three rounds next year for 30-year-old corner Chris Harris Jr., they should do it.So far, 59 trades involving players in 2019 (up 51 percent over the total in 2009), with 15 Pro Bowl players having moved so far. Best guess as of this morning: Cincinnati WR A.J. Green stays, Denver CB Chris Harris Jr. goes, Jets DL Leonard Williams goes, Miami RB Kenyan Drake goes (for peanuts; he is worth more), Washington LT Trent Williams stays (stupidly).”Peter King"

So, King believes the Broncos should trade Harris, and based on what he’s hearing Monday morning, he thinks he has played his last game in Denver.

Would that surprise anybody?

If the Broncos had won either of their last two games, I think Harris would be staying in Denver to help this team compete and get to or over .500 for this season. But because they’re 2-6 and staring down the barrel of a third-straight season with 10 losses or more, it makes more sense to deal Harris.

Then there’s the fact that Harris himself said he was distracted by all of the trade stuff going on this past week.

"“I’m not going to lie to you; it was the hardest week for me. Hardest week to focus. It was hard to play the game, but I got through it and I thought I played solid today trying to give our team a chance to win.”Chris Harris Jr. (via Broncos PR)"

Then you’ve got Von Miller getting choked up when he was asked if an emotional embrace in the locker room after the game was ‘just in case’ it was the last time Miller and Harris would take (and leave) the field together as teammates with the Denver Broncos.

You can hear in his voice that Miller is emotional when asked about Harris, and it makes you wonder what he knows that we all don’t (yet) know.

What does Harris know? What did he tell Von? Why was Harris so distracted?

If you’re reading the tea leaves here, it’s pretty obvious — Harris is likely getting traded. Miller isn’t going to react like that if Harris is coming back this week just like normal.

What that means for the Broncos is that some team is feeling good enough about their chances to compete for a title this year that they are willing to pay up what the Broncos want (higher than a third-round pick) for Harris and the Broncos are right to ask for that.

Even if it’s just for eight games, Harris is a huge difference maker and the Broncos would have the franchise tag on the table at the end of the season if they were so inclined. A trading team would obviously prefer to be confident that Harris would re-sign with them to play for a couple more seasons for the price of a second-round pick.

The Broncos have plenty of options here at the 2019 trade deadline. We’ll see how self-aware they are.