The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Confident Harris filling in for Tretter
Nick Harris checked into team headquarters on July 24 along with the other Browns rookies, figuring he would compete for a backup spot or maybe the starting job at right guard.
Three weeks later, one day before team practice in shells and helmets began on Aug. 14, starting center JC Tretter underwent arthroscopic clean-up knee surgery. The Browns are hopeful Tretter will be ready for the season opener Sept. 13 in Baltimore, but that is not guaranteed. That means Harris is suddenly more than a spare part of an offensive line that Browns general manager Andrew Berry spent the offseason fortifying by signing right tackle Jack Conklin and drafting left tackle Jedrick Wills.
Harris is working at center with the starters while Tretter mends. If he feels nervous or overwhelmed, he hides his emotions well.
“It is what it is,” Harris said Aug. 17 on a Zoom conference before the first practice of training camp in full pads. “It’s part of this game. Sometimes things happen where you have to play, and injuries are obviously a part of this game.
“When I heard it, I was just, ‘OK. Well, here we go. I have to go now.’ I get the plays, I get the scheme and everything. So I just have to go out there and execute. It’s just the next man up. If he’s down for a little bit or whatever it is, I’ll be ready to step in when need be.”
The Browns plucked Harris from the University of Washington in the fifth round, pick 160 overall. He was the sixth of nine centers drafted.
Scouting reports on Harris prior to the draft mirrored the one from NFLmocks.com: “Harris is a mean and nasty offensive lineman who consistently plays through the whistle,” draft analyst Dan Schmelzer wrote after praising Harris’ intelligence and leadership. “He is an extremely high-motor and aggressive player who is always looking to embarrass his opponent. Competitive toughness is legitimately elite.”
There has to be a “but” somewhere in there, right, if 159 players were drafted before Harris? For Harris, the “but” is being 6-foot-1, 301 pounds. Tretter is 6-foot-4, 307 pounds. Former Browns center Alex Mack is 6-foot4, 311 pounds.
“That being said,” Schmeltzer continued in his critique, “he is a bit of a small player who does have some issues with pure size on the inside. Harris is an incredible second-level blocker. But when a defense puts a big nose tackle right on top of him, he does struggle to clear him out of the play. His anchor in pass protection is also mediocre.”
“There’s a jump for sure. I have to learn the intricacies of being an NFL center, ID-ing everything and telling people what to do, which I had to do in college.” — Browns rookie Nick Harris
Harris has heard it all before. He was the starting center in 25 of the last 27 games of his college career at Washington playing mostly against PAC-12 opponents.
“I’ve gotten this question a lot throughout my career,” Harris said. “I think it helps me, to be honest. It helps me with leverage. It helps with my hands and hat (helmet) placement. I have natural knee bend to where guys have to be coached to bend their knees when I can just already do it. It helps my lateral quickness.
“On paper, if I was 6-foot-4, it would sound better, but I think functionally, if you really know the intricacies of playing this position, I have the ideal build, I think, and I think other people also would think that.”
With no preseason because of the novel coronavirus pandemic, Harris will not get the chance to face an opponent until the Browns play the Ravens in Baltimore — if Tretter is still sidelined. Harris is confident, but not naive about the challenge of perhaps starting in the NFL as a rookie.
“There’s a jump for sure,” Harris said. “I have to learn the intricacies of being an NFL center, IDing everything and telling people what to do, which I had to do in college. But it’s just a different degree of difficulty at this level because everything happens kind of fast.
“At the end of the day, it’s the same game I’ve been playing this whole time (15 years) and I’ve been having fun with it every year. That’s kind of my thought process going about it.”
Surely, the Browns want Tretter back. Tretter played through a high ankle sprain throughout most of 2018 and made it through all 16 games. So the Browns know Tretter is tough. Still, head coach Kevin Stefanski is confident Harris can handle the load until Tretter returns.
“Unfortunately, injuries are part of this game,” Stefanski said. “It’s the oldest cliché in the book, but next man up, and I think Nick is ready to roll.”
The Browns on Aug. 16 signed center Casey Dunn, who played two games with the Redskins in 2018 as an undrafted rookie, to back up Harris.