Fortunes can temporarily replace in the NFL, just ask Damien Harris.
A year after the Patriots ball carrier sank at the deep table and put on a red blouse as a rookie, Harris seems ready to be New England’s most productive runner at least to start the 2020 season.
Sony Michel and Lamar Miller remain on the list of physically unable to play, Brandon Bolden has accepted the retirement of COVID-19 and James White, Rex Burkhead and J.J. Taylor serves as a pass or replacement for the speed defender.
That would leave Harris to carry the load in the first races until he gets a Michel and Miller festival.
Patriot enthusiasts have asked Harris to have the chance to improve the ball carrier position in vain. Michel loaded the ball 247 times for 912 yards with seven touchdowns and 3.7 yards consistent with the run. Michel, a first-round pick in 2018, has not yet been as catchy with 12 receptions for 94 yards with 3 drops.
The Patriots combined the whites (67 litters, 263 yards, one touchdown), Burkhead (65 carries, 302 yards, 3 touchdowns) and Bolden (15 carries, 68 yards, 3 touchdowns) in the existing game, but most commonly left Harris in house despite impressive pre-season functionality (14 runs, 80 yards; 4 receptions, 23 yards) that persisted in the minds of his biggest fans.
Over the years, the New England program has noticed some examples of successful red-blouse runners. White and Shane Vereen were lightly used as rookies, then offensive stalwart and Super Bowl heroes.
So don’t object to Harris’ rookie season.
The fact is, no one knows what to expect from the Alabama product. He runs hard and decisively in the education camp, and his litters have obtained the approval of the coaches in the educational field. He also showed comfortable hands and willingness to pass the block.
However, here’s what we know about Harris:
With five feet and 10 inches, 216 pounds, Harris ran a sprint of 4, 5 and 7 seconds, 40 yards (47th percentile) with a vertical jump of 37 inches (80th percentile), 10 feet, a 1-inch wide jump (69th percentile) and 16 fixed evolved replays of 22 five pounds (24th percentile) in the 2019 NFL Scouting Combine.
He has an average of 6.4 yards consistent with his time in Alabama, which is a program record for players with at least 400 runs, not bad, considering his successors. His most productive seasons came here in 2016 and 2017 before taking a step back in his senior season with Tua Tagovailoa consisting of forming a heavier attack.
Harris did not shine on a specific complex statistic in 2018, ranking 49th among the qualified midfielders in the elusive Pro Football Focus rating, 36th in the breakaway consistent with the percentage, 23 in yards consistent with the race, 52 in abandonment rates, 45 in pass-blocking power and 49th in line with the percentage of issues not covered at first contact.
Harris has lost the ball as a junior or senior, and offers a full complement of skills such as runner, receiver and blocker.
To compare the last two means selected through the Patriots, Michel averaged 3.8 yards after the touch consistent with a run with 38 failed forced tackles in 157 floor attempts in 2017 through PFF. Harris averaged 3.2 yards after the consistent touch with a run with 22 failed forced tackles in 149 run attempts in 2018 and 4.8 yards after the career-consistent touch with 33 failed forced tackles in 135 floor attempts in 2017.
If the Patriots can awaken this 2017 edition of Harris, then he may end up being bigger than Michel, who has struggled to run constantly with strength and elusive after a litany of injuries in the pros.
Until Harris arrived at the box in Week 1, it was a more frequently untested product. He is not a tackler in the educational field, will not play a pre-season game this summer and has two professional pre-season performances and two regular-season games to his credit. Only time will tell if he can offer an improvement compared to Michel, but the paintings turn out to be his at this time.