zydecochris
2nd Team Getting Their First Start
- Joined
- Mar 11, 2007
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Thank you for the kind words, Chris (appreciated if not deserved).
I'm still a bit bemused by the pick. The easiest way to explain it is to look at three things.
1. Quality of the player Thanks for your information there. I'm a Pats fan first, so I'm primed to buy into the optimism. Would it be fair to say that the hope is "First round player for third round cost" and that he could be on a level with Sony M?
2. Fit with the rest of the roster Here's where the doubt kicks in. It looks like the Pats will have an RB rota of Michel, Harris, White, Burkhead, Bolden. I don't think it's reasonable to see Harris as displacing either White or Burkhead, although perhaps they expect him to displace Bolden on Special Teams. I do think that the fit looks much stronger if the Pats hadn't drafted Michel last year, but, say, had kept LG Blount, or if Hill had stayed health. The injuries last year were exceptional both in number (Hill, Michel and Burkhead -- 3 of 4 running backs -- out for significant periods) and impact (having to keep Michel on the roster because IR-to-return was already occupied).
3. Opportunity Cost I'm no draft expert, so I don't have a player I'm burning with frustration the Pats didn't draft. But I will say that, if you're going to take a flyer with a 4th-rounder on a possible quarterback of the future, it wouldn't have cost so much more to go up to the 2nd and trade for Josh Rosen, who looks to me like a better prospect than Stidham.
Anyway, thanks for the info and welcome to New England, Mr Harris.
Regarding his fit with the rest of the roster, IMHO a major priority of the Patriots and Josh McD for the last few years has been to find a RB that is extremely productive in BOTH the running and passing / pass protection game and could stay on the field. Mike Lombardi has mentioned that is why the Pats didn't retain Blount, when he was in the game a good defense knew it was a run and they could key on the run (e.g., with a run blitz), and thus in big games the Pats became one dimensional with everything on Brady's shoulders. With Lewis, although he was a decent (not fantastic) receiver he was also primarily a running option because he was a liability in pass protection, and he was often injured. So: to try to get someone that was versatile in both the run and the pass they brought in Gillislee and Burkhead, but Gillislee didn't pan out in the passing game at all and he was out-produced in the running game by Lewis in 2017 (when Lewis avoided major injury). Burkhead probably was the closest the Patriots had to a true run/pass option player, but he also really had trouble avoiding injury. I think they drafted Michael in the 1st round to finally be that true threat on both running plays and passing plays, but despite his extremely promising year he wasn't as much of a factor in the passing game as one might have expected from his college career, and he had a bit of trouble avoiding injury also. I am hopeful that Michael blossoms in the passing game this year.
So: I think the Harris role will be: i) a primary option in short yardage; ii) to share running carries with Michael so that Michael isn't worn down or injured, he isn't as dynamic as Michael but he is a very smart, reliable RB who is far more talented that anyone other than Micheal in the running game; iii) he will replace Burkhead as a more talented dual threat in both the passing and running game.
I actually think that Harris will be the primary option in the red zone this year, because he is a strong between the tackle runner, he is an extremely strong pass protector, and he will be a very reliable drop off option for Brady. Is he as good of a receiver as White? No, but when White is in the defense knows it will be a pass, and that won't be the case with Harris. Just my opinion (says the guy who posted all of the reasons that the Patriots absolutely would not draft Stidham)