Dwayne Harris 3rd WR?

[Stautner]

The numbers look great, but realistically a lot was on a 1 yard pass that had a 70 yard running lane wide enough for a tanker to go through. I still credit him for making the play, but that is a bit of a fluke and much less likely to happen against a starting defense. Still, he caught what was thrown to him and he can run, so go first outing.

Ogletree did well too. Nothing outstanding, but he caught what he should have.

What about the catch Poots made - pretty nice.

 

[DFWJC]

I've been saying since draft day that Harris may well be the steal of this draft. I can't understand how he slipped to the sixth round given his career at ECU...

You should here the Carolina Panther fans right now. They are really teed that they passed on a "local" kid in Harris ....just like they passed on Chris Johnson in '08. ECU fans (and NC fans in general) are ripping them.
It's not like they haven't seen him, seeing that they play at least one game a year in Charoltte vs either Va tech, WVU, or South Carolina. Oh well, our gain.

However, it is just one preseason game against mostly the 2nd and 3rd teamers

 

[Doomsday101]

The numbers look great, but realistically a lot was on a 1 yard pass that had a 70 yard running lane wide enough for a tanker to go through. I still credit him for making the play, but that is a bit of a fluke and much less likely to happen against a starting defense. Still, he caught what was thrown to him and he can run, so go first outing.

Ogletree did well too. Nothing outstanding, but he caught what he should have.

What about the catch Poots made - pretty nice.

Even minus the long play by Harris he made the catches including a big one at the end for the game winner. Harris helped moved the chains as well. I felt the kid had an outstanding night.

 

[Stautner]

Even minus the long play by Harris he made the catches including a big one at the end for the game winner. Harris helped moved the chains as well. I felt the kid had an outstanding night.

I don't mean to belittle what he did - it was a very good showing for him.

 

[bluewaterpirate]

Too much stock given to combine numbers and not enough focus on his acutal performance over the previous four years. Believe me, I watched this young man play at ECU you got the sleeper in the draft. He may not run a 4.3 forty but what you really got is a receiver who is a physical runner that can flat accelerate after catching the ball plus he's a great blocker. He has great hands and a student of the game. You got a class young man.

 

[Doomsday101]

Too much stock given to combine numbers and not enough focus on his acutal performance over the previous four years. Believe me, I watched this young man play at ECU you got the sleeper in the draft. He may not run a 4.3 forty but what you really got is a receiver who is a physical runner that can flat accelerate after catching the ball plus he's a great blocker. He has great hands and a student of the game. You got a class young man.

I agree. Combine numbers are a tool they do not tell you if a guy is a football player or not. There are some workout warriors who can post impressive numbers in these drills but can't play a lick of football when it counts.

 

[DFWJC]

I agree. Combine numbers are a tool they do not tell you if a guy is a football player or not. There are some workout warriors who can post impressive numbers in these drills but can't play a lick of football when it counts.

Harris has a little bit of a younger Hines Ward in him. Ex QB, smart, physical, and plenty fast enough.

 

[InmanRoshi]

Too much stock given to combine numbers and not enough focus on his acutal performance over the previous four years. Believe me, I watched this young man play at ECU you got the sleeper in the draft. He may not run a 4.3 forty but what you really got is a receiver who is a physical runner that can flat accelerate after catching the ball plus he's a great blocker. He has great hands and a student of the game. You got a class young man.

I think also people look at the Air Raid offense (for those that don't know, the ECU offensive coordinator was a disciple of Mike Leach at Texas Tech) as a gimmick offense and that WRs from that offense can't do what the NFL will ask of them.

While that might be true to some degree for outside WR position, but that system produces some great NFL slot WRs (Welker, Amendola). They may be one trick ponies, but it's a hell of a trick.

 

[jterrell]

ughhh... i will regret speaking so early but i can't help myself....

i think harris has the ideal game and athletic skill set for a 3rd WR. he is vastly more athletic than crayton but has that big frame that can absorb punishment and break tackles.

if he can grasp those crossing routes and learn how to sit down in zones he is probably a much better natural 3rd WR than ogletree who is an outside guy by skillset.

yes, i am in pre-season love. :laugh1:

 

[DFWJC]

I think also people look at the Air Raid offense (for those that don't know, the ECU offensive coordinator was a disciple of Mike Leach at Texas Tech) as a gimmick offense and that WRs from that offense can't do what the NFL will ask of them.

While that might be true to some degree for outside WR position, but that system produces some great NFL slot WRs (Welker, Amendola). They may be one trick ponies, but it's a hell of a trick.

All true...except maybe the one-trick pony part.

Harris was only in that offense for one season....though Skip Holz' offense was wide open as well, it was not the Leach (Riley) offense of last season.
He produced well in both systems and played both inside and outside reciever positions.

 

[JonJon]

The numbers look great, but realistically a lot was on a 1 yard pass that had a 70 yard running lane wide enough for a tanker to go through. I still credit him for making the play, but that is a bit of a fluke and much less likely to happen against a starting defense. Still, he caught what was thrown to him and he can run, so go first outing.

Ogletree did well too. Nothing outstanding, but he caught what he should have.

What about the catch Poots made - pretty nice.

In all fairness though, most big plays made in the NFL are the result of a blown coverage, missed assignment, or a weakness in the defense of some sort. Only a handful of plays are the result of a player making something out of nothing and/or breaking a bunch of tackles along the way.

The important thing is that Harris ran the correct route, got open, caught the ball, and outran the defense to the endzone. Even though he made it look easy, there was a lot that still could have gone wrong on that play.

[youtube]b1GXciGFT1s[/youtube]

 

[Stautner]

In all fairness though, most big plays made in the NFL are the result of a blown coverage, missed assignment, or a weakness in the defense of some sort. Only a handful of plays are the result of a player making something out of nothing and/or breaking a bunch of tackles along the way.

The important thing is that Harris ran the correct route, got open, caught the ball, and outran the defense to the endzone. Even though he made it look easy, there was a lot that still could have gone wrong on that play.

[youtube]b1GXciGFT1s[/youtube]

Yes, but very few occur with a 1 yard pass at the beginning, and fewer still with a 1st team defense. As for running the correct route, he just took a couple of steps and turned around - hard to screw that up. I was just cautioning that this kind of play is a fluke and not a real indication of something great. The one thing it showed was that Harris can run, but truthfully I was much more encouraged by Harris' other receptions that required running a route and more difficult catches. Those were more indicative of what he needs to do to be a quality NFL receiver.

 

[InmanRoshi]

Yes, but very few occur with a 1 yard pass at the beginning, and fewer still with a 1st team defense. I was just cautioning that this kind of play is a fluke and not a real indication of something great. The one thing it showed was that Harris can run, but truthfully I was much more encouraged by Harris' other receptions.

There's nothing flukey about reading a blitz, making a hot read and making a defense pay for sending 7. Good slot WRs build careers on it.

 

[InmanRoshi]

if he can grasp those crossing routes and learn how to sit down in zones he is probably a much better natural 3rd WR than ogletree who is an outside guy by skillset.

Yep, and I for one am excited that we actually have someone on the roster who adept at playing the slot and has a natural feel for it. It's a unique skillset and knowledge base compared to playing outside WR, and I'm tired of hammering outside WRs into the square peg of the hole.

 

[Doomsday101]

Yes, but very few occur with a 1 yard pass at the beginning, and fewer still with a 1st team defense. As for running the correct route, he just took a couple of steps and turned around - hard to screw that up. I was just cautioning that this kind of play is a fluke and not a real indication of something great. The one thing it showed was that Harris can run, but truthfully I was much more encouraged by Harris' other receptions that required running a route and more difficult catches.

I agree but I will say that play was set up perfect. Harris comes off the line for the easy catch and Rucker seals the defender off which creates the open space and allows Harris to make the big gainer for the TD.

 

[Stautner]

There's nothing flukey about reading a blitz, making a hot read and making a defense pay for sending 7. Good slot WRs build careers on it.

Yep, this happens all the time. Come on - how often does a 1 yard pass turn into a 20 yard wide running lane to the end zone 76 yards away? It was good that it happened, and a nice play for Harris, but things like that are very rare and very flukey.

The other 4 passes for 51 yards are more indicative of what he is going to have to do to become a quality NFL receiver, and I thought he handled those very well. He caught everything that was thrown to him, and that's the biggest thing.

 

[Merlin]

Harris looks like he has good instincts to play the slot, he will take that position from Ogletree eventually. I don't recall them sending Ogletree on many long routes to take advantage of his speed. It was always those little WR screen passes.

 

[EPL0c0]

i think it's a little early to talk about him as the 3rd....we need to see more of how Ogletree does in the 3 WR sets with Romo and Austin and Dez

however i think Harris showed a lot of promise to be the 4th WR for sure

agreed. I liked the pick when they made it. I didn't seem him as a #1, maaybe as a #2 (due to injury) but as most likely as a solid #3 w/ PR ability. I think he does need a little development, but Dallas should know by year's end where he is. I think after 2 seasons, you might know what youre gonna get from a guy, if it's not there, it's not there.

I remember seeing Austin early on and people here just loving what he was doing, but maybe b/c of Jerry's loyalty to other players, we never really got to see him play. It took an injury to get him a real shot.

I'm hopeful that if Garrett sees the potential, he won't be afraid to upset the order and test a guy like Harris by putting him up against tougher defenders (starters)

 

[JonJon]

Yes, but very few occur with a 1 yard pass at the beginning, and fewer still with a 1st team defense. As for running the correct route, he just took a couple of steps and turned around - hard to screw that up. I was just cautioning that this kind of play is a fluke and not a real indication of something great. The one thing it showed was that Harris can run, but truthfully I was much more encouraged by Harris' other receptions that required running a route and more difficult catches. Those were more indicative of what he needs to do to be a quality NFL receiver.

It wasn't just an easy turn and catch. That was a hot route play that he executed perfectly. He recognized that his man was blitzing and quickly got into his position. A second later and McGee probably gets killed, the ball is incomplete, or even intercepted if he runs the wrong route. Like I said, there is plenty that could have went wrong on that play. I guarantee you there are receivers that would have found a way to screw it up.

 

[kmd24]

The nice part is Harris was that wide open on the 76 yard TD because he correctly recognized the blitz from the slot position and ran the correct hot route into the vacated area of the defense. The Broncos double blitzed both of their nickel linebackers on the weakside and blitzed their nickel slot on the strong, Harris ran into the void left by the linebackers. Rucker got a key block on the safety that sprung the play. The deep safety slipped over aggressively taking a bad angle to Harris, but by that point it was set up to be a big play anyway, the question was only how big. Great hustle by Radway running down field to get the final block to clear the way to the endzone.


That's what you get from someone who has played the slot position from the Air Raid offense in college ... someone who is well versed on reading defenses and adjusting routes on the fly to exploit soft spots (Wes Welker, Danny Amendola), because that's what that entire offense is predicated on. When you have a weapon like that in the slot, it's Tony Romo and the Offensive line's best friend. Defensive coordinators have to think twice before sending heavy blitzes because they know they can be exploited.

Nice analysis, IR.