Zxavian Harris cleared to sign with any NFL team

Less than a month ago the league had locked Harris out for the season. On Monday that ban came off, and Tom Pelissero had the news first.

Tom Pelissero

@TomPelissero

The NFL Management Council informed DT Zxavian Harris — one of the players who attempted and failed to return to college at LSU — that it has established he never practiced and therefore he is now a free agent, eligible to visit and sign with any NFL team, sources tell @ringer @netflixsports.

Here's how he ended up stuck. Harris went undrafted after foot surgery in March. New Orleans signed him anyway, put him on the active/NFI list in late July and waived him on August 8. The Saints never got him onto the practice field.

Then came the strange part. A Louisiana judge gave 33 athletes, 16 of them football players, a temporary restraining order so they could chase another year of college eligibility. Harris and TE Dae'Quan Wright both played for Lane Kiffin at Ole Miss, and both tried to rejoin him at LSU. Days before the Clemson game, LSU left both of them off its roster, which kept the school out of a fight with the SEC over its new rule barring former pros. Dabo Swinney called the situation "embarrassing."

That left Harris with nowhere to play. He went to a group workout for free agents with the Packers in mid-September, and on September 17 the NFL sent clubs a memo calling him and Wright ineligible to visit, try out with or be signed by an NFL team in 2026. The rule it cited covers draft-eligible players who returned to college and took part with their college team after NFL training camps opened. That part of the rule is what reversed the ban. The Council has now decided Harris never practiced, so the rule never applied to him, and the league sent a second memo to explain why it was reinstating him.

Tom Pelissero

@TomPelissero

The NFL sent this memo to clubs regarding the decision to reinstate Zxavian Harris’ eligibility for the 2026 NFL season.

So Harris goes from banned for the season to a free agent in the middle of the season. He's 6-foot-8 and 330 pounds and was once a top-100 recruit, the kind of body teams usually want to see in person. Green Bay has already looked at him, and Yahoo reported he was on the Packers' radar for a practice squad spot before the ban landed. He also comes with real questions. Teams passed on him in the draft because of the foot surgery and arrests from his college years.

Pelissero's reports only cover Harris, so nothing here says Wright's status has changed. What matters now is whether a team brings Harris in this week. He's spent this whole saga in limbo between the NFL and college, and he finally has a clear path back to the NFL.