2017 NFL Draft: Missouri DE Charles Harris projected first-rounder
The 2017 NFL Draft is less than a week away, and once again, the Missouri Tigers will offer-up first-round caliber talent, Charles Harris, to one lucky team.
Missouri defensive end Charles Harris, has spent much of his pre-NFL Draft season as a later first-round and second-round draft choice on many mock draft boards.
As mocks generally go however, athletes will rise and fall in draft rankings. I try not to be biased, but being a Missouri fan and a fan of Harris’ body of work, makes it difficult for me to look upon mock draft boards objectively.
Seeing that Harris could be rising higher into the first round, of course, makes me happy. For the last few years, the Missouri football program has offered-up a lot of first and second-round talent to the NFL Draft, and this year will be no exception.
The question is, how high will Harris go? Of the 29 teams with a first-round pick, which one will seek to add Harris’ talents to its defense?
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There are at least 13 teams in need of defensive end help, so it is highly likely that Harris will be a first-round pick, but he probably won’t be a top-10 choice.
There are four teams with first-round picks in the top 10, who are in need of a defensive end or a pass-rusher. They are San Francisco (No. 2), Tennessee (Nos. 5 and 18), New York Jets (No. 6), and Carolina (No. 8).
Barring any of these teams trading down later in the first or early second rounds, these teams are least likely to select Harris with their top picks.
Harris should be a mid-to-late first-round pick, and that’s okay. Unless something cataclysmic happens, Harris should be long gone by the second round of selections.
The top five teams who are most likely to select Harris late in the first round are New Orleans (pick from New England) (No. 32), Atlanta (No. 31), Dallas (No. 28), Miami (No. 22), or Detroit (No. 21).
The top four teams who could select Harris in the middle of the first round of the draft include Tampa Bay (No. 19), Tennessee (No. 18), Baltimore (No. 16), or Philadelphia (No. 14).
In one mock board, Mel Kiper has Charles Harris going to the New York Giants with the No. 23 overall pick. I can’t imagine how ugly the Giants defense would look with Jason Pierre-Paul and Charles Harris on the field at the same time, but I don’t believe Harris will be available when it’s the Giants’ turn to pick.
Where I’d love to see Harris go, if they had a lower first-round choice, would be Carolina, which recently traded former Missouri defensive end standout Kony Ealy to the New England Patriots for a second-round pick.
The Panthers, who just signed free agent Julius Peppers and re-signed Charles Johnson to a two-year deal, would be deadly to opposing offenses with the addition of Harris. For now, unless the Panthers trade their eighth pick down, which I wouldn’t recommend, Harris to Carolina seems dead in the water.
Some project that Harris could go as high as 14 to the Philadelphia Eagles. Harris, one of the best edge rushers in the draft, would be a perfect fit in Philadelphia, which severely lacked a talented defensive end in 2016.
Next: Missouri has its quarterback for 2018
According to one Philadelphia Eagles blog, “Harris is one-of-five athletes who the Eagles are very interested in.” I think the Eagles drafting Harris with the No. 14 overall pick seems the most plausible and realistic scenario.