Harris has skills to thrive
’Bama back checks lots of boxes for Pats
FOXBORO — The Patriots’ 2019 draft, a pivotal weekend for the future of the franchise, went mostly as expected.
The front office provided Tom Brady with a physical target on the perimeter in N’Keal Harry. The Pats took a second-round defensive back for the ninth time since 2008. They addressed needs at offensive tackle and defensive end.
The one pick that qualified as a mild surprise: Alabama running back Damien Harris in the third round.
The selection says something about how the Patriots value the position. They took Harris at No. 87 overall just one year after drafting Sony Michel in the first round. Over the past 20 years, only one other NFL team spent a top-100 pick on a running back the year after selecting one in the first round (the Lions drafted Jahvid Best at No. 30 in 2010 and then nabbed Mikel Leshoure at No. 57 in 2011).
While the Pats will never splurge on a single highpriced free agent like Le’Veon Bell, they clearly have experienced a shift in philosophy regarding the resources they’ll pour into the backfield.
Above all, the selection speaks to how the Pats value Harris. Director of player personnel Nick Caserio explained the pick by saying it “falls into the ‘good football player’ category.” In other words, running back wasn’t a pressing need.
But the Pats deemed Harris too good to pass up.
He checks multiple boxes for the Patriots, arriving with a reputation as a strong personality and influence within the locker room, as well as a punishing, no-nonsense runner between the tackles.
As his friend and former Alabama teammate Keaton Anderson noted, Harris “never follows what is cool or the cool running back thing to do.”
“That’s not speaking about Alabama (backs), that’s just in general,” Anderson said. “Some of these guys like to put their names out there and show off. He’s not like that.”
A five-star recruit out of Richmond, Ky., Harris bucked the trend by staying all four years in Tuscaloosa despite totaling 2,037 yards rushing on 7.2 yards per carry as a sophomore and junior. Fellow ’Bama backs Mark Ingram, Trent Richardson, Derrick Henry, Eddie Lacy, T.J. Yeldon and Josh Jacobs never topped 7.0 yards per carry while rushing 100-plus times in a season. Harris did it twice, yet he’s the only player from the above group to stay in school all four years.
“He loved the (college) atmosphere,” said Ted Butler, his friend and personal trainer. “Purely from a professional view, he probably should have gone pro after his junior year.”
But Harris embraced everything about college life. He joined a fraternity, and in 2017 told TideSports.com, “Being a part of Omega Psi Phi fraternity is something I hold dearly to me just as much as football.” He formed friendships across campus and was “very active in the church,” according to Butler. Harris maintained a variety of interests academically, too.
“He’s very educated about pretty much anything,” Anderson said.
“Extremely, extremely sharp,” Butler said. “Could do anything he wants. And he plays football because he’s so naturally gifted.”
Voted a captain by his teammates, Harris was oftentimes the unofficial spokesperson for everyone in the locker room.
“He could easily have a broadcasting career after football is done,” Anderson said. “I think he’d be really good at that.”
As many other draft prospects trained at renowned facilities in an effort to “hack” the combine, as Butler put it, Harris stayed at Alabama throughout the process. According to Butler, who operates out of Kentucky near Harris’ hometown, this decision enabled Harris to remain immersed in college life and focus on football-specific training, which will benefit him in the long run.
It didn’t necessarily help him post the best combine numbers. Harris ran a 4.57 in the 40-yard dash, perhaps bumping him a few dozen spots down the draft board.
“The 40-yarder is one of the least indicative drills, but he would have been a latefirst or second-rounder (with a slightly better time),” Butler said.
So does he possess the athleticism to stand out in the NFL?
While Harris isn’t exactly Todd Gurley in terms of long speed, his blend of initial burst, physicality and decisiveness stands outs.
“He can hit the hole as fast as anybody I’ve ever trained,” Butler said.
And he’s no fun for defenders lurking at the second level. Anderson, a 196pound safety, spent four seasons taking on Harris in practice.
“When you try to tackle him, he’s very thick-bodied,” Anderson said. “If you think you can hit him straight up, chest to chest, it’s probably not your best bet. Really physical runner. And this is what I’ve always seen with him: He’s a tremendous pass blocker. He’ll sit in the hole and take on a 260-pound linebacker and deliver a blow. The blow isn’t being delivered to him. This day and age, running backs want the ball, but they don’t want to do that.”
Undervalued throughout the spring, Harris’ name is picking up some post-draft momentum. NFL Network analyst Nate Burleson recently declared Harris to be the biggest steal of the draft. Longtime Patriots running backs coach Ivan Fears wouldn’t go that far (understandably), but he projected Harris to be a “major runner” alongside Michel.
“He’s athletic, he’s intelligent, he’s got passion for the game,” Fears said. “There’s something there.”
That’s usually the case with Alabama backs. Four of them — Kenyan Drake, Ingram, Henry and Jacobs — enter the 2019 season as the presumed starters on their respective teams.
Harris arrives without the first-round pedigree, but with all the traits to fit in and eventually flourish in Foxboro.