ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Cornerback Champ Bailey returned to Denver on Tuesday to sign a one-day contract and retire as a member of the Broncos even as his legacy lives and breathes on this year’s team.

Still, it was an anti-climactic end to a career that he thought would last one final season after he signed with the New Orleans Saints in the spring. But the farewell became emotional after he watched a tribute video and listened to introductory speeches from team president Joe Ellis, general manager John Elway and head coach John Fox.

Bailey walks away from the game in some pain; the Lis franc injury he suffered during the 2013 season at Seattle bothers him when he tries to run. But he also leaves the game knowing that his successor in Denver is flourishing.

That’s cornerback Chris Harris Jr., who played with Bailey for three seasons, now inhabits Bailey’s old locker-room stall and is, in Bailey’s eyes, “playing better than anybody in this league right now.”

According to profootballfocus.com, opposing quarterbacks have a lower quarterback rating (41.7) throwing at Harris than against any other cornerback in the game. In St. Louis last week, all three of Shaun Hill’s passes at Harris fell incomplete; against all other Broncos defenders, Hill went 20-for-26.

“I don’t keep up with all that. I just go by what I see. I just look at tape. He’s playing better than anybody in this league,” said Bailey.

Bailey saw something different during Harris’ first training camp, in 2011, when he was listed on the fifth team.

“Just the hunger — that’s really what separates guys, is the attitude,” said Bailey. “A lot of guys don’t have the attitude. They have the talent, this and that, the intangibles. He had the attitude, and he had the right attitude.”

“My rookie year, he was always just telling me to keep fighting,” said Harris, who was one of 18 current or former Broncos to attend Bailey’s retirement press conference. “He knew I was battling for a spot and he knew I just practiced differently. The level of my practice is different than anybody’s and that’s something that I wanted to do as a rookie and that’s the same way I still am.”