Big year needed from LB Harris

2017 first-round pick a match for hybrid defense

DAVIE — Charles Harris isn’t looking for another do-over.

He’s also not making any excuses for the slow start to his NFL career the past two seasons. Harris owns the fact that he’s gotten off to a slow start.

Last year, the Miami Dolphins’ 2017 first-round pick admitted his rookie season was a disappointment, but he claims it led to a life-altering epiphany that triggered a spiritual journey.

So when Harris followed it up in 2018 with a sleepy second season that was hindered by a calf injury at midseason, he took his limited production in stride.

It wasn’t his time, he told himself.

“Patience,” said Harris, who had 19 tackles and one sack in 11 games last season.

“That’s something that Cam [Wake] taught me. Be patient and learn the game. Let the game come to you.”

Considering Wake, Robert Quinn, Andre Branch and William Hayes — all four of the defensive ends that were ahead of Harris on the Dolphins’ 2018 depth chart — are no longer on the roster, the door is wide open for the former Missouri standout to become a more impactful player.

The Dolphins are banking on Harris, who has contributed 38 tackles and

three sacks in the 27 games he’s played, having a breakout season in the hybrid defense the new coaches are installing, which will implement concepts of both the 3-4 and 4-3 scheme.

“[The new coaches] are excited to work with Charles because they had said that they liked him previously when they had seen him coming out of college at Missouri,” general manager Chris Grier said, referring to the second first-round pick he made as the organization’s lead executive.

“They’re going to work with him. They think that they can do some things to help him.”

But Grier acknowledges that banking on Harris alone continues to be risky, especially considering he’s the only proven pass rusher that remains on Miami’s training camp roster one week before the NFL draft.

“Whenever you change schemes and coaches, there always is going to be some misfit pieces,” Grier said. “The one good thing we love about [coach] Brian [Flores] is in New England he found a way of getting guys to play better. Hopefully, that’s the case here.”

Harris was utilized as a stand-up outside linebacker at Missouri, so if Miami uses him in a similar role he could thrive as he did in college, where he produced 117 tackles and 16 sacks in his final two seasons with the Tigers.

In the NFL, Harris has flashed rare athleticism, especially when the team has practiced without pads. However, he has struggled with having his hand in the dirt, serving as a traditional 4-3 end, particularly when it comes to setting the edge against the run.

The Dolphins are hoping that a fresh start, new coaching, more opportunities and playing in a familiar scheme will jump-start the 24-year-old’s productivity.

“He’s got size, he’s got speed, he’s got athleticism, he plays hard — [he] does a lot of things that we like as a staff,” Flores said. “He’s an interesting player on our team. I’m excited to work with him.”

According to Harris, his ability to drop back into coverage is being tested because he spent a few snaps working with defensive backs during this week’s voluntary minicamp.

Dolphins players are keeping Miami’s defensive scheme a mystery, but Harris has learned he “needs to know everything” in order to make an impact.