Former Husky Makes Transition to NFL Starter in Cleveland

Nick Harris takes over at center for the Browns after two seasons of getting ready.

He's in his third NFL training camp but this one is markedly different for Nick Harris. He's fully involved.

The Cleveland Browns intend to make him the starter at center, handing him a job previously occupied by veteran JC Tretter, who became physically worn down and wasn't re-signed. 

All along, the former University of Washington standout has had to be patient, waiting for his chance and learning the NFL landscape. It was hard for a guy who played right away in Montlake and became a two-time, first-team All-Pac-12 selection once moving from guard to center.

“It was just more like, I’m not playing, you just don’t know, you just don’t know because you’re just watching all the time," Harris told cleveland.com. "You practice all the time but practice is different than the game. So I wouldn’t say I had any doubts. It was more anxiety.”

Tretter was a high producer, but the former Ivy League player began to show signs of decline. While starting every game but one in 2021, he couldn't practice, so Harris took most of the snaps during the week.

The Browns decided It just was time to turn the job over to Harris, who started one game as a rookie at guard in 2020 and replaced Tretter for one game last fall after the veteran came down with COVID.

The 6-foot-1, 293-pound Harris opened against the Green Bay Packers and it went well. 

Harris: "I'm just trying to battle myself every day and compete with myself in the practice reps that we get."

— Cleveland Browns (@Browns) May 29, 2022

“It was a beautiful scene. It just felt right,” he said. “And then once I got out there, got some pops and you felt it, it was like, ‘OK, I belong here. I belong in this position.’ ”

Harris impressed the Browns with his preparation, his film work and his readiness to replace Tretter when needed. 

“We saw a lot of Nick,” Cleveland coach Kevin Stefanski said. “There’s a ton of reps that we got with him.”

Harris acknowledged that looking over Tretter's shoulder and watching him interact with offensive-line coach Bill Callahan and offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt helped him get ready to take on those responsibilities. 

“I learned a lot of stuff about just how to be a professional center, because it’s more than what meets the eye,” Harris said. “Just how [Tretter] was in the meeting rooms, how his discussions with Bill were and how his discussions were with Alex  because the center needs to know a lot of stuff.”

Moving forward, the Browns do the opposite of a lot of teams, which tend to go hard for a couple of weeks and taper off.

Harris appreciates Callahan for his attention to detail with the offensive linemen and giving them the right focus on the practice field. In the end, it just comes down to being ready to play when the games begin to count. 

"Am I going to be able to play? Am I going to play eventually?” Harris said, remembering his mindset last season. “It was just like, ‘Damn I just want to get on the field, I just want to play.' "

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