Virginia Edge Eli Harold NFL Draft Scouting Report
Evaluating the edge rusher class for the 2015 NFL Draft has been an absolute blast, and that continued with my study of Virginia’s Eli Harold. Harold comes from the Virginia football program, where he’s been a consistent threat against opposing quarterbacks for the past two seasons.
Let’s take a closer look at a prospect that some consider to be a first round draft pick, and others think very little of.
Measurables
Strengths
As you can see in the web above, Eli Harold is incredibly gifted physically. In an interview at the NFL scouting combine, Harold compared himself to Bruce Irvin, and it’s easy to see why. The name of Harold’s game is speed, and he has a lot of it.
Nov 1, 2014; Atlanta, GA, USA; Virginia Cavaliers defensive end Eli Harold (7) is shown during a play against Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets offensive lineman Bryan Chamberlain (53) in their game at Bobby Dodd Stadium. Georgia Tech won 35-10. Mandatory Credit: Jason Getz-USA TODAY Sports
That’s to be expected for a guy that is under 250 pounds, but Harold’s speed translates to the field. He didn’t have gaudy sack numbers at Virginia, but I don’t credit that to the fact that he didn’t get a good enough rush. There were only so many sacks to go around at Virginia as they had three players with seven or more on the season.
Harold can bend around the edge when he wants to, but I don’t know if he uses that enough. He is so fast that he can make tackles look like they are standing in cement. What you see him do really well — and this will bode well for him in the NFL — is rush to the inside. He uses his hands really well to swat offensive linemen away and with his quickness/suddenness, he’s very hard to contain.
Where Harold is most polished is in pursuit of the football and closing in. You see in his Louisville tape an effort sack that he runs across almost the entire field to get to the quarterback. Miraculously, the quarterback didn’t just throw the football away, but Harold was able to capitalize on his error and get the sack.
For his size, Harold appears surprisingly strong and doesn’t often get overpowered by offensive linemen in the passing game. His closing speed and burst to the ball carrier is, without question, some of the best I’ve scouted in this year’s draft. Coordinators are also going to love running this guy through blitzes on the interior of the offensive line. He was almost unblockable when used as an interior rusher.
The ability to play different positions is also a strength for Harold, who lined up all over the field at both linebacker and defensive end.
Weaknesses
Against NFL tackles, his size could be a deficiency early on. He’s very thin in the lower body, so he can be redirected if an offensive lineman gets a good initial hit on him. This is especially true in the running game.
As much as I liked to see the closing burst that I mentioned in his strengths, there were a lot of plays that Harold left on the field because he took poor angles or didn’t read the play correctly. When studying his UCLA tape, he has multiple opportunities to bust up read-option plays and he completely misreads what’s going on, and Brett Hundley escapes for huge gains.
He’s not a physical, tone-setting power end. That’s not his game and it maybe never will be, but you’d rather have him going up against tight ends than tackles on a consistent basis.
Sep 13, 2014; Charlottesville, VA, USA; Louisville Cardinals quarterback Will Gardner (11) throws the ball as Virginia Cavaliers defensive end Eli Harold (7) chases in the second quarter at Scott Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports
NFL Scheme Fit
3-4 OLB
4-3 RDE/SLB
Round Projection
I think Harold has a chance to be a first round pick based on his athleticism alone. He looks like a first round pick physically. He is a guy with huge upside that put up good enough numbers the last two years to be seriously considered at the back-end of round one, but I’d be more comfortable giving him a solid second round grade. That being said, if you’re picking at the bottom of the order, you might not be able to get him later in the second, so you could try to weasel into the top few picks of the second round or you could just take him in the late first.
Overall Observations
The upside is here for Harold. He’s got a ton of skill, plenty of speed, and I think his game will translate to the NFL eventually. He might need some time to grow a bit more in his lower body and limit the amount of times he’s re-directed easily by linemen.
Prospect Video