2019 NFL Draft Prospect – Kelvin Harmon, WR North Carolina State
Our NFL rookie profile series continues with this analysis of 2019 NFL Draft Prospect Kelvin Harmon, WR from North Carolina State. You can also check out all of our NFL Draft Prospect articles here. We will continue to provide you with these in-depth rookie profiles and a ton of other fantasy football rookie analysis right up through the NFL Draft. Stay tuned, and stay ahead of your league!
From a dynasty perspective, wide receiver is clearly the strongest position in this year’s NFL Draft. I believe there are five top wide receivers and, for me, Kelvin Harmon borderlines “tier one”. As you can see from DLF’s March 2019 Rookie Dynasty ADP, five of the top six players being drafted are receivers, and Harmon comes in at number six overall.
The rankings may fluctuate quite a bit once we find out which city each player will be calling home. With a good landing spot, I could see Harmon moving into the top three.
The Stats
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Harmon played very well as a high school senior (66-1,111-14) but was only recognized as a three-star recruit coming out of New Jersey. He received offers from Mississippi State, North Carolina, Miami, and South Carolina, among others, but decided to play for the Wolfpack and committed to North Carolina State.
Statistics from sports-reference.com.
As a freshman at NC State, Harmon was a productive player, and won the team’s Philip Rivers Award as the top freshman in the program. He played in ten total games and only started four of them, but was still able to lead the team with five touchdown receptions while catching 27 balls for 462 yards.
Harmon’s sophomore season is what put him on the map as a serious prospect to keep an eye on. He was a second-team All-ACC selection and caught a team-high 69 passes for 1,017 yards and four scores.
He followed up that up with an even better junior season and cemented himself as one of the top receivers in the nation. He was selected to first-team All-ACC and led the team with 1,186 receiving yards and seven touchdowns on 81 catches. Like many players in today’s college game, he decided to skip the team’s bowl game to focus on the NFL draft.
The Film
Some things I really like when watching tape on Harmon.
1. Really good when the play breaks down
2. Beats up on smaller corners
3. Can make tough catches through contact@MyFantasyLeague @DLFootball #Dynasty #FantasyFootball #kelvinharmon pic.twitter.com/Qzb28OKhAi— Levi Chappell (@LeviChappell) March 18, 2019
Harmon has just about everything you would want in a true number one wide receiver. The one thing that jumps out while watching tape on him is how good his hands are. He makes a ton of difficult catches and makes them look easy. The throw doesn’t even have to be accurate and he will still pull it in.
He also does a lot of subtle things that go unnoticed to the average fan, but will not go unnoticed by NFL scouts. He fights the defenders hand the entire time the ball is in the air, and then positions himself well at the last second in order to make the catch. He is also a monster when it comes to physicality and aggression. A quarterback can play pitch and catch with him all day because he loves to body up smaller corners and make them pay.
The one main knock on Harmon is that his speed and quickness is not elite. He relies a lot on physicality. Physicality is great, but pairing that with speed and athleticism is lethal, which Harmon does not have.
The good news is that many players who have lacked elite speed have made very solid careers out of using physicality and great hands (DeAndre Hopkins is one who comes to mind).
The Measurables
When you look at Harmon’s spider graph courtesy of Mock Draftable, one thing jumps out, and it is what we have been talking about the entire time… strength. His height, weight, and bench press are all really good metrics which accentuate his physicality as a player. His hand size and arm length are above average as well, which helps him win those 50/50 balls and make contested catches.
All other metrics are lacking though. The lack of speed and acceleration are noted in his below average 40 yard dash time and cone drills. A close measurable comparison to Harmon from recent years is Laquon Treadwell who was a monster in college, but has had a hard time translating that to the NFL. Both are big-bodied receivers who fight through contact well, but lack the explosion to separate.
Two main differences between Harmon and Treadwell that should give possible Harmon owners hope is that Harmon is much stronger than Treadwell ever was, and has better hands.
Dynasty Value
As of March 2019, Kelvin Harmon is going on average as the sixth player (WR5) in the March 2019 Rookie Dynasty ADP. He has been drafted as high as number five and as low as number ten, but I would not count on him being available at the tail end of the first round. Depending on landing spot, I think Harmon gets drafted somewhere between number four and number eight. I would be comfortable spending the number four pick on him, and if he was there for me at the number seven or eight pick, I would snatch him up immediately.
Again, with the right landing spot, I could see him jumping over one or two of the other wide receivers and moving up towards the front end of a rookie draft. We will have to wait and see until April…
Conclusion
Kelvin Harmon has the size and body of a prototypical WR1 in the NFL but lacks the athleticism to be the top wide receiver in this class. Something to monitor during the draft is to see how much “draft capital” a team is willing to spend on Harmon. Does someone draft him at the end of round one? Does a team trade up in round two to snag him? Keep an eye out!
Possible landing spots where Harmon could make a difference:
- San Francisco 49ers
- Arizona Cardinals
- New York Giants
- Baltimore Ravens
- Washington Redskins
Follow me on Twitter @LeviChappell.
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