Veterans Feel Cozy With Task Labounty, Harrison Battling For Seahawks Roster Spots

The only thing different about the “deja vu” return of Matt LaBounty and Martin Harrison to the Bay Area is the name of the stadium. Candlestick Park is now called 3Com Park.

Other than that, everything else is the same. They are Northern California natives, Harrison from Livermore and LaBounty from San Francisco.

They lived a dream of playing for their hometown team, the San Francisco 49ers. Harrison and LaBounty are battling for backup roles at defensive end.

Been there, done that.

Now, though, they play for the Seattle Seahawks, who played the 49ers Saturday night.

Though their NFL journeys have caused them to cross paths again, these NFL journeymen aren’t at odds with each other. They spent more than a year-and-a-half together with the 49ers, and odds favor them both making the Seahawks’ roster as valued role players.

Rushing the passer is their speciality, but wrapping up job security is their mission.

Harrison may be a little more nostalgic than LaBounty. During his four-year stay with the 49ers, he met his wife, Debbie, who was the team caterer at the time. Unlike LaBounty, Harrison has ties to Seattle, so wearing a Seahawks jersey means something.

His family moved to the Northwest when he was in junior high and he went to the University of Washington.

“It’s funny,” he said. “I was born in California and drafted by the 49ers. So it’s kind of a nice thing to go back. Then I went to Newport High in Bellevue.”

From 1994 through last season, the 6-foot-5, 265-pound Harrison played mostly as a backup with the Minnesota Vikings. Teams don’t view him as a starter but instead as an important role player on a playoff team. Coming off the bench, Harrison can produce quarterback sacks.

In response to his job, Harrison ordered “Sack You” license plates for his car.

“I had five sacks one year with 30 percent playing time, six sacks another year with 32 percent playing time,” said Harrison, who has 21 career sacks despite only 10 starts. “Last year, I played 52 percent of the time and had seven. I had one taken away when John Randle called the league and got credit. Percentagewise, with my playing time versus sacks and stats, I produce.”

The Seahawks are looking to replace the 13-1/2 sacks lost by the departure of Mike McCrary, who went to the Baltimore Ravens in free agency. The plan is to start Daniels on run downs and use linebacker Chad Brown as a pass-rusher on passing downs.

Any scraps of playing time left when the Seahawks rest Daniels, Brown and left defensive end Michael Sinclair could go to Harrison and LaBounty.

“Going back to when I was with the Huskies, I learned to make every play count,” Harrison said. “I watch films and see guys relax. Then you see the quarterback go back and then, boom, he throws the pass and it’s a slant and it goes for a touchdown. If the guy who relaxed just turned and ran, they would have had the quarterback.”

LaBounty was a 12th-round choice of the 49ers in 1992. After the 49ers released him five games into the 1993 season, he went to the Green Bay Packers for 2-1/2 seasons.

There, he found a second niche almost by accident. With Reggie White nagged by a torn hamstring late in the 1995 season, LaBounty, a pure end, was recruited to play defensive tackle in passing situations.

Despite being undersized at 275 pounds, LaBounty had uncanny ability to get to the quarterback from the tackle position. He had three sacks in two starts and added a sack in a playoff game against Atlanta.

“They put me in at tackle, I ran a couple of stunts and got a couple of sacks,” LaBounty said. “What I learned made me versatile.”

The Seahawks traded free safety Eugene Robinson 13 months ago to acquire him. Unfortunately, knee problems limited LaBounty to three appearances last year. He didn’t make a tackle for the Seahawks.

“It turns out that it was a bone bruise that was really bothering me,” LaBounty said. “The knee kept swelling. Every time I moved laterally, I had a problem with it.”

Two arthroscopic surgeries didn’t fix the problem. Off-season workouts have. Specific stretching exercises have kept LaBounty healthy throughout training camp.

“I always felt that I’m the kind of person that comes into camp and people don’t really expect much,” he said. “I feel that if I play hard enough, I have a chance. I think I will try to go beyond people’s expectations. If people aren’t expecting me to make the team or get any playing time, I’m going to try to stand out to change that thinking.”