Player: Christian Harris

School: Alabama

Height and Weight: 6’½”, 226

Combine Results:

• 40: 4.44
• Bench: DNP
• Vertical Jump: 34.5
• Broad Jump: 11’
• 3 Cone: DNP
• Other Notes: Harris didn’t compete in everything at the combine, but I would say he certainly raised his stock. Harris came out and ran a 4.44 and everyone seemed to be really impressed by it, and yes it’s a great time, but if you watch him play, you can clearly see that 4.4 translates. In the jumps he showed he’s got some great explosive power, and again you can see it in his film. 

Strengths: Versatility, speed/power balance, zone coverage/playing in space

Weaknesses: Plays with high pad level, inconsistency reading plays/awareness, man coverage

Projected Draft Day: Day 2

Player Comparison: KJ Wright

Player Summary: Christian Harris is one of the linebacker prospects that just isn’t being talked about as much as he should. Originally I thought Harris could sneak his way into the first round, but after watching some of his tape, he is definitely more of a day two prospect from what I saw. I like Harris as a prospect, don’t get me wrong, but he shows certain traits that make me think he is a little further from a first round prospect than I originally thought. However, let’s start with the positives. Harris is a super versatile player as he could play as a 4-3 LB, 3-4 ILB, or even 3-4 OLB and has experience playing different LB roles in the Alabama defense. Harris also brings a solid balance of speed and power to his game. As I stated earlier Harris ran a 4.4 40 yard dash and you can definitely see it on tape. Harris also isn’t afraid to pop you and show the power he has. Harris also seems to be solid in zone coverage and when playing in space. He seems to have solid instincts and knowledge of his drops and things of that nature, and when he is kept clean to run sideline to sideline he can do it with ease. The two skills that I think are a strength for Harris are tackling and block shedding. Harris is pretty good at these two things, but not all the time. Meaning he flashes the ability to do both at a high level, but it isn’t in the tape consistently to be a strength.

In terms of his weaknesses, one of the first things I realized is that Harris plays really high. Even pre-snap he doesn’t have a lower stance; he kind of just stands up and plays with a high pad level. Another weakness I saw was man coverage. It’s not a matter of not knowing who to cover; it seems like he continually gets run past by running backs and more athletic tight ends. For a guy who ran pretty fast, I was kind of surprised by that. My final primary weakness of Harris is his awareness/ability to read plays. I don’t know if he just moves to make a play too quick sometimes, but against the run in particular there were many  occasions where he would leave a giant hole in the middle of the defense because he cleared out and read one of his keys wrong or something. In zone coverage, although I think it’s a strength, he seemed to get lost in the traffic sometimes and  even bumped into his teammates at times. He just needs to become more aware of where he and everyone is on the field. Overall, Harris is a playmaker. NFL defensive coordinators will love this guy because he can play all over the box and allow them to give a multitude of looks in the front 7. Harris can rush the passer, drop in coverage and make a play in the run game. He has some stuff to clean up and develop heading into the league, but could easily be a day one contributor. 

I compared Harris to KJ Wright. Obviously Harris is a much smaller version of KJ Wright, but can do everything and brings the same versatility that Wright does. I also think Harris could follow a similar career path, where he may never be elite or top tier, but can play at a very high level.