Chris Harris Jr. is an unknown stud

— -- ENGLEWOOD, Colo. -- It is a riddle that has yet to be answered, like some kind of football crop circle.

One day it's just there, everybody sees it, but the questions remain about how Chris Harris Jr. went from underdog to top dog without most noticing along the way.

The Denver Broncos cornerback once counted his scholarship offers on one finger. After four years as a starter at Kansas, he was not invited to the 2011 scouting combine and was not selected in the NFL draft. And now, although he's just nine months removed from ACL surgery, people can see what so many others missed.

"This didn't just start this year," said the newly retired Champ Bailey, a likely future Hall of Famer who was Harris' teammate for three seasons. "Chris didn't just suddenly put it together and play. It's been building, and the fact is Chris is playing better than anybody right now. ... Chris is playing the best of any player at his position in this league."

Mike Giddings, a former Broncos assistant coach who now operates Proscout Inc., a scouting service that is used throughout the league for its evaluation of every player on every roster, ranks Harris as "blue," the highest level given to only a smattering of players across the NFL.

And this past week, one NFC personnel director, who can't openly comment about the future prospects of a player under contract with another team, was asked if there was any player in the league who plays better with less fanfare. His answer? "None. And not sure I've seen anything like it before. He's an upper-tier player, a top player, and somebody is going to pay him if [the Broncos] don't."

The perpetually smiling Harris is also pathologically competitive, with humility wrapped around supreme confidence. He knows he is what an NFL cornerback should be. And he's still not sure why it took so long for others to figure it out.

"My mom, she thought I was the best, my sisters maybe; but maybe that's not objective or anything," Harris said. "But if you believe in yourself, your family believes in you, you put in the work, do it right, you only need one other person to believe in you. That doesn't seem like a lot, but sometimes it is."

Harris will be an unrestricted free agent at season's end. But consider what had to happen for him to get here from there -- there being a winding trek through other people's doubts.

"It's been a long road," Harris said. "It seems like the contract, or endorsements, or being the guy who is talked about, from the world's standpoint, that's what rates people for some. But I like to say football always tells the truth, and maybe right now football is telling the truth. I might not go to the Pro Bowl or be the guy everybody knows right now, but football is telling the truth."