Missouri has been a factory for pass-rushing defensive linemen in recent years. Since 2011, players like Aldon Smith, Sheldon Richardson, Kony Ealy, and Shane Ray have all been snapped up with premium draft picks after wrapping up their careers in Columbia.
Dolphins pick Charles Harris based on football talent, not workout numbers
Harris is only six years into his organized football career, and he’s got a ton of potential.
Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports
On Thursday, Charles Harris kept that tradition alive. The disruptive defensive end is now a Dolphin after being chosen with the No. 22 selection of the 2017 NFL draft.
Harris had a meteoric rise to get to the NFL. The Kansas City native didn’t play organized football until his junior year of high school, making him a little-regarded, two-star prospect. The Tigers snapped him up anyway and struck gold, unearthing a two-time All-SEC defensive end who forced offenses to plan around him each Saturday.
He redshirted his first season in Columbia, then played sparingly in 2014 before the departure of players like Ealy and Michael Sam thrust him into the starting line the following fall. Over the next two seasons, he’d contribute more than 30 tackles for loss and 16 sacks to emerge as a first-round talent.
What does Harris bring to an NFL pass rush?
Harris is an athletic specimen who is fluid on the field and able to quickly change directions in order to burn offensive tackles and collapse pockets. He uses his hands well to establish position and leverage, then rip through blockers. He’s fast enough to be a pure speed rusher at the next level, though a mediocre showing at the NFL Combine has raised some questions about how effective he’ll be.
He plays with strong awareness and showed off the ability to shed blocks and cut inside when more mobile quarterbacks stepped up in the pocket or broke containment to scramble. Harris doesn’t give up on plays either, so expect to see plenty of situations where he’s running in to flatten a juking tailback 8 yards downfield. He wraps up well after making contact, limiting missed tackles. He also has a nifty spin move in his arsenal:
What are Harris’ weaknesses?
His combine performance did little to inspire confidence, especially for a player whose pass-rushing technique is firmly rooted in his speed. At 253 pounds, he’s small for an NFL end, and the league’s better tackles will be able to swallow him up unless he can outclass them with speed and athleticism. Unfortunately, a 4.82-second 40 time and low scores in the agility drills failed to showcase the kind of quickness he’ll need at the next level.
While he improved on those numbers at Missouri’s pro day, he still leaves plenty of questions about his future. Although he produced in college, better teams found a way to contain him, like when LSU held him to a single solo tackle or when Arkansas kept him from making a stop in the backfield last fall.
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