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ckparrothead
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The biggest problem I see with Chris Harper is despite the 4.46 estimate of his 40 yard dash time which comes in behind only Marquise Goodwin, Tavon Austin, Denard Robinson, Markus Wheaton and Corey Fuller amongst top 25 senior receivers...he's not getting open a lot on the vertical. Or at least the separation closes up quickly with the ball in the air. But one reason for that is because Colin Klein doesn't really seem capable of hitting a vertical throw in stride. He underthrows everything to Harper and counts on him to come back to the ball and make something happen physically, which he often does. Or in some cases it's not even Colin Klein. As you saw in the Oregon game, Klein gave the ball to his halfback Pease, who had every intention of hitting Chris Harper on a deep ball. Harper ran his vertical against CB Troy Hill (4.51) and beat him vertically, but Pease was assailed in the backfield and had to make the guy miss before he could turn around and throw it, so the ball came WAY late, forcing Harper to come back to it, and giving Brian Jackson time to catch up and assault Harper in the face as he was trying to pull in the ball. But nonetheless when you watch CB Joe Williams of Baylor (4.52) easily keep up with Harper on a vertical route and then intercept a pass that gets underthrown to the inside, yeah you can blame the throw but the fact of the matter is Harper didn't create much of a window there.
He's a big body and very strong, shows strong hands and the ability to make physically contested catches. There are some great examples of physically contested catches against the likes of Aaron Colvin of Oklahoma, Carrington Byndom of Texas, Quandre Diggs of Texas, Chance Casey of Baylor and Joe Williams of Baylor.
The best part of his game though is his run after the catch, which he showed in the bowl game and he's been showing all year. You'll see his power after the catch as he stiff-arms people like Terrance Mitchell of Oregon and Adrian Phillips of Texas, or when he literally drags along like he's giving bus rides to the likes of Daytowion Lowe of Oklahoma State or both Elisha Olobode and Kevin White of TCU on the same play. He did the exact same thing dragging Baylor DE Chris McAllister (6'2" and 255 lbs) for an extra 7 yards and that was after Harper's momentum had already been stopped as he physically broke the would-be tackle attempt of Joe Williams on the play.
But it's not just power because for a man that is 6'1" and 234 lbs you would not think he would be able to move the way he does. On one play in the Bowl game against Oregon, he gained 21 yards by making CB Ifo Ekpre-Olomu eat the dirt with a sweet move after the catch. On another play against Oregon he scooped to the inside after the catch and created some more yards, and then cut back to the outside again making Ifo Ekpre-Olomu once again jam up his gears and trip, and created a few more yards after catch.
The speed and quick feet do show up in his ability to get open on comebacks, hitches and out routes. On the play against Ifo Ekpre-Olomu where he made him eat dirt, he gave himself that opportunity by creating the separation underneath needed to catch that ball and run with it. He also ran a hitch and created separation but for whatever reason Klein didn't want to throw it, so he tagged his route upward and then physically created more separation with his hands as Ifo Ekpre-Olomu adjusted to keep him up with him, then hitched again and created a window for Klein to throw to him. He created separation against Ifo and the other corners on Oregon several times throughout the day. He generally tore up Oklahoma State CB Brodrick Brown with that ability to create separation on comebacks, and created a lot of separation on comeback routes against Aaron Colvin, though the ball didn't come to him on those plays.
I think a big problem for him is he plays in an offense that often forgets about the passing game, and he plays with a quarterback who often forgets about the perimeter and prefers to throw inside to slot receivers like Tyler Lockett. He'll go whole stretches of games where he's just a hood ornament, essentially. And because of that, he can get a little bit lax during some of these stretches. But then when his number is called, he lights up like a Christmas tree and looks quicker.
He reminds me in some ways of Rishard Matthews whom the Dolphins just drafted last year in the 7th round. But I think he's physically stronger and makes more physically contested catches. The latter was one of the criticisms I had for Matthews, even though I liked him quite a bit. Matthews doesn't show very often the ability to come down with a ball in those 50/50 physically contested situations. That I think is one difference between Harper and Matthews.
Chris Harper represents something that is missing from the Dolphins' offense. The Dolphins have the ability to create separation underneath like Harper does, but they don't do anything with physical strength. Brian Hartline is the opposite of strong and physical, and Davone Bess doesn't really fit that bill either, doing his damage more with just his quick feet. Essentially the Dolphins don't have a guy with James Jones' or a Jordy Nelson's physicality. Harper reminds me of a James Jones. But where James Jones is maddening for his ability to make physically challenged catches and then turn around and drop easy balls, I just haven't seen Harper drop many passes. Just one, in all the games I've watched.
You probably won't have to go very high to get a Chris Harper unless he unexpectedly blows the doors off the Combine, but I think he'd be a good role player in a passing offense. To me he's like a version of Da'Rick Rogers that doesn't have the baggage.
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