Who is Mark Harrison?
After featuring rookies in the first three installments of this series, this article will present an intriguing second-year player who has fallen off many fantasy radars: former Rutgers wide receiver Mark Harrison, recently signed by the Kansas City Chiefs. Finally healthy, Harrison has undeniable talent which has thus far been hidden beneath a great deal of baggage.
Highly decorated coming out of high school in Connecticut after leading his team to two state championships (after averaging 27.4 yards per reception over his high school career), as a Scarlet Knight, Harrison often failed to live up to the lofty projections placed on him as a top recruit. He never exceeded 44 receptions or 829 yards in a season and caught only 14 passes in 12 games as a junior in 2011. After leading the Big East with nine touchdown receptions as a sophomore, he caught only eight in his final two years at Rutgers combined. In total as a three-year starter, Harrison caught 107 passes for 1,769 yards and 18 touchdowns.
At the 2013 NFL Combine, Harrison ran a 4.46-40 yard dash to go along with a broad jump of 10’9” (fifth among all wide receivers) and a vertical jump of 38.5 inches (fourth). Only Justin Hunter outperformed Harrison in all three events in 2013, and only three other wide receivers above 225 pounds (Calvin Johnson, Jonathan Baldwin and Matt Jones) have achieved similar or better results at the Combine. In short, Harrison’s measurables are impressive and rare.
[inlinead]Unfortunately for Harrison, by the time the NFL Draft came around, this impressive display was overshadowed by a foot injury suffered the day before Rutgers’ Pro Day. Surgery was necessary and he dropped from projected mid-round selection to undrafted free agent (UDFA) because of a combination of the injury, inconsistency at the collegiate level and character concerns as he reportedly left his hotel room at the Combine completely trashed. Though he was still highly recruited, a failed physical for the Bears voided his first contract and left his NFL future in doubt.
Harrison eventually went on to sign with New England, hardly surprising given the Patriots’ well-documented admiration of Rutgers-bred talent (he was the fifth rookie from Rutgers to sign with the Patriots that off-season). After a season on the Non-Football Injury (NFI) list after foot surgery, Harrison was speculated to be in the mix at tight end for the Patriots before he showed up late to a training session and the team decided to cut ties to open a roster spot for linebacker James Anderson. Now with Andy Reid and an uninspiring group of wide receivers as competition, opportunity has once again knocked for Harrison.
The fascination with Harrison is primarily, or even exclusively at this stage of his career, due to his combination of size and aforementioned speed. At 6’3” and 230 pounds, he has been the largest wide receiver in both of his training camps as he is an inch taller and ten pounds heavier than new teammate Dwayne Bowe. Having participated in recent workouts with the Patriots and much healthier than at this point last year, Harrison now must prove his commitment in addition to successfully translating his raw abilities onto the field.
At Rutgers, Harrison simultaneously showed his high ceiling and low floor as a prospect. He knows how to use his size as an advantage and frequently outmuscled defenders downfield. He can win jump balls and is tough for less physical defenders to bring down, which also has made him a strong red-zone threat (18 of his 107 receptions were touchdowns). Between the 20s, Harrison could be used either in the slot or on the outside as a speed mismatch against linebackers or size mismatch against defenders in the secondary. On the downside, aside from injury and character concerns the biggest question mark with Harrison is inconsistency. In his sophomore season at Rutgers, his best as a college athlete, ten of his 44 receptions came in a single game when he exploded for 240 yards receiving and four touchdowns against Cincinnati. While this speaks to his abilities as a receiver, it also speaks to his wildly inconsistent production as he would often disappear and be a non-factor.
Aside from Aaron Hernandez, a player many likened Harrison’s physical attributes to after he signed with New England, perhaps the most common NFL comparison is current Carolina Panther Marvin McNutt. Neither Harrison or McNutt have lived up to their potential based on measurables, yet they are employed as high-risk, high-reward receivers. For Kansas City, even with thirteen wide receivers and five tight ends in OTAs the receiver depth chart is filled with questions after Bowe. Injuries have kept promising tight end Travis Kelce off the field while drops and inconsistency have plagued Donnie Avery. Junior Hemingway, former 49er first-round pick A.J. Jenkins and tight end Demetrius Harris join Harrison as young players on the Chiefs with raw talent who still have something to prove on the field.
Kansas City has very little invested in Harrison so there is not much room for error. Being on the roster bubble for the Chiefs, this is a true wait-and-see situation throughout training camp. If healthy and committed, both BIG ifs, Harrison has the talent to emerge as a WR2 opposite Bowe or effective possession receiver in the slot. The floor is extremely low, however, given the strong chance he doesn’t even make the roster. Fantasy-wise, he was not selected among the top 250 in DLF’s July mock drafts, so the short-term hype that arose after the news broke he may be used at tight end for the Patriots has subsided. I would only stash him if there are more than 300 players rostered – that is, if your league is larger than a standard 12-team league with 25 roster spots per team. Harrison appears more likely to bust than to boom, but is worth a very late round flier in deep leagues until more news emerges from the Chiefs’ camp.
Comment below or contact me on Twitter @JLFoster10 with suggestions for future installments of this series.
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