2018 NFL Draft: Damien Harris is an underrated RB prospect

The 2018 NFL Draft could be loaded at the running back position, but one player that has gone overlooked to this point is Alabama RB Damien Harris…

Despite the incredible talent that rolls through the Alabama football program, I think a lot of people put an unfair stigma on their running backs, and perhaps their offensive prospects in general, because of how some of those players have translated at the NFL level.

Specifically, the accomplishments of guys like Mark Ingram and Eddie Lacy (early on) have been somewhat diminished by the lack of accomplishment of others like Trent Richardson and, to a degree, T.J. Yeldon.

But since 2010, Alabama has had only one running back with back-to-back 1,000 yard seasons. That seems a little hard to believe, considering the constant Heisman hype these guys receive. Here’s a look at 1,000-yard backs at Alabama since 2010:

2010: Mark Ingram
2011: Trent Richardson
2012: Eddie Lacy/T.J. Yeldon
2013: T.J. Yeldon
2014: None
2015: Derrick Henry
2016: Damien Harris
2017: ?

That last player on the list — 2016 rushing leader Damien Harris — is the subject of this piece. Harris is perhaps one of the most underrated Alabama running backs I have come across in my time covering the NFL Draft here for NFL Mocks (since 2011) and I am not entirely sure why.

Perhaps it’s because the best back on that list is Mark Ingram. Perhaps it’s just the fact that Alabama is so good as a team that no one necessarily believes their running back can maintain that high of a level of play at the professional level.

But Harris is on pace to be the Tide’s second back-to-back thousand-yard back since T.J. Yeldon did it in 2012-13, and he’s doing it in an offense that doesn’t really feature a dynamic passing game.

Not that Alabama ever really has with Nick Saban, but I think Jalen Hurts is a vastly different quarterback than some of the guys on this list had handing them the football, in that he leads the team in carries the past two seasons.

While Hurts leads the Tide in carries, Harris has been the team’s leading rusher overall, and he averaged over seven yards per carry in 2016. He’s bumped that up to over eight yards per carry in 2017.

Harris has excellent balance as a running back and bounces off of contact with ease, but what’s going to endear him to NFL teams as a rookie running back?

Pass protection.

If you can do this as a rookie in the NFL, you’re going to see a lot of playing time.

Harris has excellent vision as a running back and the proof of that is the fact that he breaks off a big run seemingly every time he touches the football. He is as physical as they come as a runner and a blocker, and I think in a draft class where everyone is talking about guys like Saquon Barkley and Derrius Guice, Harris has the ability to make just as significant of an impact as a rookie.

This is a guy to keep a very close eye on.