Film Room: How Nick Harris can fit the Browns offensive scheme – 247Sports

(Photo: USA TODAY Sports)

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The Cleveland Browns learned this the hard way in 2019: you can truly never have enough quality lineman in your organization.

While the interior of the Browns offensive line was never a serious focal point in the build-up to the 2020 NFL Draft, the possibility remained plausible for an addition if the organization gained some picks through a trade.

Some thought moving back from pick 10 was most likely, but the right offensive tackle presented itself and the rest is history. However, it was a different story early on day two. With a bevy of safety choices sitting in front of their face, and an organization hungry for a feature running back calling to move up, the Browns pulled the trigger on a deal that ultimately led to a young center out of Washington University.

The Browns picked Nick Harris with the 160th selection in the draft while adding the pick for simply moving down three selections in Round 2 from 41 to 44 and still getting their safety of choice. I mean, everyone loves free picks, but Harris has the potential to be much more than a bargain bin player.

Background

Undersized coming out of high school, Harris made up for it with technique and skill. He was a three star prospect in 2016 and ESPN's No. 13 center prospect in the country.

Harris fully expected to redshirt his freshman season at Washington as he was just 17 years old, but poor depth forced the young Harris into playing quickly. He played a majority of his first two seasons, earning the starting role as a sophomore, as a guard. He struggled in pass protection especially. Harris made the final switch of his career prior to 2018 when he took over the center role and anchored the position for the past two seasons. His play grades drastically improved and he turned himself into and NFL prospect thriving in the middle.

Harris won't limit himself to just one position if given the opportunity. After his selection at pick 160 he talked about his comfort and potential in both roles with the media: "...just because I played center last few years, I feel comfortable there, but I also feel comfortable at guard. Wherever I can get on the field the fastest and contribute will be good for me because I have those two years playing guard. Anywhere I could just start playing football will be good.

Athletic Testing

Height: 6'1

Weight: 302 lbs

Arms: 32 1/8"

Hands: 9 3/4"

40 Yard: 5.1s

Vertical Jump: 29.5"

Broad Jump 8-07

Bench Press: 20 reps

Harris checking in at over 300 pounds with the movement skills, including a quality 40-yard dash, helped his stock at the combine. His explosion jumps were competitive with the rest of the class, but his issues in play strength show up with just 20 bench reps. Here's a look at his comparisons across combine history.

Harris' closest comparison as a player, in term of athletic ability and measurements, is Brian Allen out of Michigan State. Allen spent time starting at center for the Rams last year before an injury sidelined him for the year. Far from the prototype offensive lineman of the modern NFL, Harris will have to overcome some of his physical shortcomings with technique and athleticism.

Let's check the tape for what Harris will bring to Cleveland.

Movement Skills

The offense new head coach Kevin Stefanski brings to Cleveland will require his offensive lineman to be effective movement players. They have to be able to perform the rip/run in the wide zone scheme, and have enough foot speed to fight around pursuing players, cut off second-level defenders, and get out and run in screen game to pick up defensive backs and linebackers.

Washington ran wide zone, but from the deep back and JET sweeps, that gave Harris the opportunity to show how well he can move in space and climb for second-level defenders. It is rare to catch him taking a poor angle or missing his assignment at either level. For a man his size, his ability to run pops on film.

He just has that innate ability to feel the correct timing and running back cut in the scheme and there is no doubt this is a key aspect of Harris' game that caught the Browns scouting eye.

Browns college scout Adam Al-Khayyal noted the movement with Harris right away. "Probably it varies when you are talking scheme to scheme, but certainly, for what we are trying to do in a wide zone system, Nick is a guy with really good feet, good quickness and really good range in terms of getting out in space and getting to the second level. A guy who really there is not a block he doesnt think he can make, and quite often, he makes them.

The quality footwork and running ability also flashed when Washington would pull the young center in pin/pull schemes or sweep concepts. He will be asked to do this if uncovered at the NFL level.

The same positive movement traits also appeared for Harris when the screen game was used by the Huskies, and they did it often. Stefanski is an avid screen game user to punish aggressive defenses and Harris will fit in well when asked to get out and form an alley.

Awareness/Processing

The leader of most any offensive line is the center. They will usually be tasked with handling identifications of the opposing MIKE linebacker, setting protection direction, and being the anchor to the group helping in both directions. Harris was able to do that at Washington and certainly had the leadership role you want to see.

Al-Khayyal noted this for Harris was a big positive in his scouting profile of the young player. He was a team captain, and when you talk to people around the program, they say he is one of the best leaders they have. I think it is sort of a combination of everything. I think he really does bring a lot to the team and for them as a program. He was a guy that played a lot, and he did it with his actions, but he also did it with his words.

This will be a strength for Harris if he is able to adapt to his new playbook as quickly as he did at Washington as a freshman. He has a great feel for stunts and twists up front from opposing defensive lineman, and he handled quick gap-shooting linebackers well on tape. He also did well with initial double-teams before climbing for second-level defenders. This ability to quickly adapt within any play is a huge positive for a young offensive lineman.

Harris also displayed an ability to handle speed rushers who threatened him laterally. He has the type of quick feet to handle A-gap rushing linebackers and safeties at the NFL level and he rarely struggled with this in his 2019 tape.

Functional Strength

For Harris, the lack of high-end size and strength shows up on film far more often than you'd like to see. His worst marks as a blocker came in gap schemes which call for the strength to move opposing interior defensive lineman through drive techniques. Harris showed a lack of desire to make heavy impact hits on these plays and often would stop his feet before contact.

He would also be thrown off his spot by defensive lineman who were much stronger at the point of contact. When this would happen Harris would then resort to grabbing and trying to fight to save the block. This issue resulted in holding penalties.

Another big play strength issue Harris struggled with was the ability to anchor in the bull rush. Many teams would use a shade alignment on him, and then occasionally he would deal with a head-up nose tackle who would try to drive to the quarterback right through Harris' torso. The base would get far too wide on him and he would be caught hopping backward trying to re-anchor.

You can see how Harris would have both feet leave the ground when trying to quickly regain his anchor (seen below, in front of the quarterback). He would do this hopping technique several times within a single rep if being moved off his spot by a bull rush.

This issue is something the Browns, and offensive line coach Bill Callahan, will have to attack and improve through increased functional strength and technique tweaks.

Harris was able to manage this issue at the college level, but when he faces the best of the best that inhabit the NFL, this issue could be one that defenses consistently attack and force him to deal with this weakness and his offensive line teammates to provide him with help.

Harris did improve his play strength from 2018 to 2019 and it showed on film in some situations. There is no doubt there was an improvement.

The question for his simply boils down to how often he can handle the one-on-one assignments and if he can improve his strength over the course of his NFL career. The 20 bench reps don't tell the whole story but they do tell us Harris is simply not as strong as they need him to be right away to contribute along the starting group.

Final Thoughts

The future for Harris lies solely at center. He doesn't have the necessary strength and length to play guard at the NFL level, and he needs time to come along in the system and strength program to be a positive contributor. If he is linked to the right guard battle and somehow won that job for 2020, I would be rather surprised.

This is not meant to knock Harris, though. He has some fantastic traits for the offense he will be arriving in and a path to eventually starting at center in his rookie contract is more than plausible. He has some traits you can't coach in the movement skills, and when you put those in the right offense, it can eventually work.

Harris is far from weak and his propensity to pick the right angle and technique serve him very well. He will be a favorite of Callahan and this offensive line during his time in Cleveland at some point and his shorter stature could end up being beneficial to Baker Mayfield's vision as well.

If Harris finds a way to keep adding strength to his frame, and works into handling those interior NFL defensive lineman, he can become a nice part of thee future in Cleveland. If he fails to improve his play strength and is inconsistent with his performance at the point-of-attack it will cut his NFL career short.

For now, he provides nice stability at the backup center role with experience to play guard if the Browns are in a crunch with injuries. The goal will be for Harris to improve and be ready to step into the role when J.C. Tretter's contract expires. An eye on the current, and future. Something this front office has done a nice job handling since their arrival.

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Film Room: How Nick Harris can fit the Browns offensive scheme - 247Sports