20/20: Damien Harris

Bruce Matson Posted On February 14, 2019

Welcome to the 20/20 series. As part of our continued Dynasty Scouts coverage and in preparation for the NFL Combine, we will be profiling 20 of the top incoming rookies of the class of 2019 by giving you 20 facts you must know.

1.) Player name – Damien Harris

2.) College – Alabama

3.) Height/Weight – 5’10’’, 216 lbs

4.) Birthdate – 2/11/1997

5.) Class – Senior

6.) Basic college stats –

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Courtesy of sports-reference

7.) NFL Draft Round Projection – Harris is expected to be a day two pick and he’s more than likely going to fall to the third round. There were times during his collegiate career that he looked like a first-round pick, but once scouts viewed him through a “jeweler’s glass,” questions cropped up. Declining his invite to the Senior Bowl raised some eyebrows.

8.) Current NFL comparison – Not only does he compare to Kareem Hunt in height, weight, and stature, but they also do some similar things on the field. Both players have excellent vision and can find the hole with ease. Footwork is another similarity between the two running backs. Harris is meticulous with every step he takes which negates his lack of initial explosion at the line of scrimmage. Versatility and balance at the point of contact are strong suits for both.

9.) Best possible destination – The New York Jets are an unassuming and realistic landing spot for Harris. Elijah McGuire and Isaiah Crowell are both on the roster and signed with the team through 2020. Neither running back is considered a world-beater when it comes to talent. If Harris is as talented as he is being proclaimed, then he should have an easy time reaching the top of the depth chart.

The Jets are currently in a transition period and it looks like all signs are pointing up. The team drafted Sam Darnold in the first round of last year’s draft. Sam Darnold flashed talent and is looking like he’s going to be the team’s franchise quarterback for a very long time. Sooner or later, the Jets’ offense is going to be rocking and rolling and Harris could be one of the turning points of the franchise.

Of course, since I comped him to Kareem Hunt, then Kansas City is definitely a good destination for him. Just about every running back in this draft class would maximize their skill sets playing with Patrick Mahomes and the high-flying Chief’s offense.

Damien Williams finished the year as the team’s starting running back. He looked good, rushing for 203 yards and three touchdowns in the last three weeks of the season. Even in a part-time role, where Harris would have to split carries with the team’s incumbent back, he could still seek fantasy relevancy considering the sheer explosiveness of the offense.

10.) Worst possible destination – Outside of the obvious spots like the LA Rams or the New Giants, the Oakland Raiders might be the worst possible destination for Harris. The John Gruden experiment is starting on the wrong foot and it looks like it could become a disaster in the near future. It doesn’t appear that there’s much stability on the roster considering they traded away Amari Cooper and Khalil Mack last year. There are a lot of holes in the team’s depth chart and a running back is something the team shouldn’t invest in until they take care of some of their bigger issues. If they do spend a top 100 pick on a running back like Harris, then we could see dark days for one of the younger running backs in the league.

11.) Best current skill – I love his ability to drop his pads and run through contact. He runs with bad intentions which makes him perfect for short yardage and goal line work. His compact frame allows him to take and deliver a beating. On top of that, his footwork helps him maintain balance after he meets a tackler in the hole. Harris might not be flashy, but he can handle a large workload without losing steam.

12.) Skill that needs to be improved – Elusiveness in the open field is one of his biggest issues. He would rather take on defenders and try to run through them instead of making the defender miss. This limits his ability to break off long gains since the brush of contact will obviously slow him down, making him regain his speed if he doesn’t get tackled. Running backs who receive a large workload need to limit that amount of contact they absorb as much as possible and if he’s looking to plow through tacklers in the open field then the odds of him getting injured will definitely increase.

Harris will need to rely more on stiff arms and jump cuts in the open field if he wants to maximize his opportunities. This will increase his yards per carry and make him a more efficient runner. There will be fewer yards left on the field. With his lateral quickness and burst being limited, he will need to be more creative to get by defenders to gain extra yardage.

13.) Past/current rookie ADP – Harris currently has a rookie ADP of 10.9, making him the fourth running back off the board. I look for him to hover around this range all draft-season. A bad performance at the Combine would cause him to fall down draft boards. Also, if he gets drafted by the wrong team, then his ADP will also fall a few spots.

14.) Projected dynasty value –If he gets drafted into a promising situation then he will be easily drafted in the top-60 in startup drafts. His value isn’t going to tank if he falls in the draft or gets drafted into a less than optimal situation. Age insulation will help his dynasty stock and will allow him to hover around the 100-120 ADP range even if he’s drafted into a pitfall like the Cincinnati Bengals or the Oakland Raiders.

15.) Recruiting profile – He was a five-star prospect from Madison Southern High School which is located in Berea, Kentucky. 247Sports ranked him the top running back in the 2015 recruiting class. They also had him ranked 31st overall nationally. With him being the top running back in the nation, he was heavily recruited by some of the best schools in the country like Ohio State, Michigan, Florida, Miami, Oklahoma and many more. After a tough decision, Harrison signed his letter of intent to Alabama on February 04, 2015.

16.) High school production – 2011 (freshman): 62 carries for 742 yards and 11 touchdowns. 2012 (sophomore): 144 carries for 1,778 yards and 35 touchdowns. 2013 (junior): 220 carries for 2,621 yards and 42 touchdowns. 2014 (senior): 97 carries for 1,576 yards and 23 touchdowns.

17.) Advanced metrics – He finished his senior season with a 15.75 percent market share and a 13.72 percent dominator rating of the team’s offensive production. Harris also saw seven percent of the team’s passing targets which equated to 7.3 yards per target. The red zone was where he did most of his work since 30.81 percent of his touches came there.

18.) Honey Buns – While trying to shed some pounds going into his junior season, Harris confessed that he had an addiction to Honey Buns. He admitted that he had to cut the delicious treat completely out of his diet because one Honey Bun would lead to another 20. A Honey Bun has 220 calories and 13 grams of sugar.

19.) Underrated career – His 3,070 rushing yards rank eighth all-time in Alabama’s history. He’s also the program’s all-time leader with 6.4 yards per carry (400 or more carries). Not to mention he has nine 100-yard games during the course of his career.

20.) Why he joined Alabama – Harris chose Alabama over the other 23 schools who sent him offer letters because they feed running backs into the league and playing at the next level is his ultimate goal.

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Bruce Matson

Contributor at Dynasty League Football

I'm a financial counselor for a hospital in South Central Ohio. I graduated from Muskingum University with a bachelor's in business while minoring in Economics and Accounting. I won my first fantasy football title with Jake Plummer as my quarterback.