2022 NFL Draft Prospect Profile: LB Christian Harris, Alabama

Christian Harris was highly productive for the Crimson Tide. What type of skill set does he have to offer an NFL team?

Author:
Nick Falato
Publish date:
Mar 18, 2022 8:13 PM EDT

In this story:

Christian Harris, LB

Height: 6’2
Weight: 232 lbs.
Class: Junior
School: Alabama

A former four-star recruit out of University Lab High School in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Harris was the sixth-ranked inside linebacker and the fifth overall ranked Louisiana prospect during the 2019 cycle. Harris was a wide receiver and safety in high school who transitioned to linebacker once he arrived at Alabama’s campus. Harris helped the Alabama Crimson Tide win the National Championship in 2020.

Notables

Harris is a productive linebacker for one of the best schools in the nation. He had 80 tackles, 51 STOPS, 11.5 tackles for a loss, 5.5 sacks, 26 pressures, three passes defended, and two forced fumbles in 2021. He ends his collegiate career with 220 tackles, 120 STOPS, 26 tackles for a loss, ten sacks, 66 pressures, an interception, nine passes defended, and two forced fumbles.

Strengths

Great size and athletic profile
Covers a lot of space - is a three-down linebacker
Very good lower body flexibility and body control
Has the range, lateral mobility, change of direction, and agility to scrape, close width, and cover running backs and tight ends
Takes good angles from space to the tackle point (tackling must be cleaned up)
Good upper body strength to stack & shed
Showed impressive ability to dip outside shoulder around pullers when restricting C-Gap
Has shown the ability to read keys and react well to position himself in the right gap to force a STOP
Has the athletic traits to excel in coverage
Typically gains good depth in zone drops, does well to look for underneath routes from both sides of the field
Does well when walling crossers off from 3x1 set
Blew up several screens, seemed to anticipate them well
Man coverage ability is solid, gets physical up route stem
Quick trigger downhill as a blitzing linebacker
Great pursuit when tracking ballcarrier/quarterback down

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Can Improve

A bit high-cut in the hips, albeit fluidity didn’t seem to be an issue
Misses far too many tackles (had double-digit missed tackle percentage in every college season)
Flies into the tackle point with his head down
Must drive through targets and wrap up more consistently
Goes for hit stick (big hit) far too often
Play strength when aligned at EDGE was problematic against LSU’s freshman offensive tackle
Inconsistent processing, found himself out of position more than one would like to see
Could have better spatial awareness when trash is around him, and with routes from the backside behind him
Flashes, but is inconsistent
Competitive toughness concerns in certain games seemed fair; was he given all of his effort?

Summary

Overall, Christian Harris flashes three-down linebacker ability; he is a great athlete who is fluid in space, and he has a good size. Harris has high upside, but he’s inconsistent with tackling, processing, and it appears his motor runs hot & cold. He must clean up his tackling inefficiencies with his technique, and flying into tackle point wildly.

I understand why teams would value him in the second round, but he’s going to need more development to be a reliable contributor on defense. He only started playing linebacker in college, so more time could help him reach his potential.

GRADE: 6.31