The Atlanta Falcons added another former first-round pick to their roster on Friday morning, trading a 2021 seventh-round pick to the Miami Dolphins for defensive end Charles Harris.
Harris, like current Falcons DE Takk McKinley, was selected in 2017 and hasn’t lived up to that first-round status as of yet. In three seasons with the Dolphins, Harris has only started eight games and recorded just 3.5 sacks.
Miami’s defense requires a little more technique from its ends, which Harris just hasn’t developed. While he thrived in Missouri’s attacking-style defense, it hasn’t came together during his three seasons with the Dolphins.
So why trade for Harris?
A seventh-round pick isn’t much to give up for a player that Falcons GM Thomas Dimitroff was rumored to be interested in back in 2017. Harris is only 25 years old and coming to Atlanta means he’s not likely to have his fifth-year option picked up.
Knowing that, this essentially becomes a contract year for Harris. Unless he turns things around, there won’t be much free-agent interest in him in 2021. Money can he quite the motivator, though, and sometimes a change of scenery can be just what a frustrated, struggling player needs.
Harris is considered to be a better fit in the Falcons’ attacking-style defense. The Dolphins haven’t exactly been a model of NFL consistency over the past three seasons, either.
Without the expectations that Harris had as first-round pick in Miami, he can just go out there and play. In a rotational role likely backing up McKinley, Harris is a low-risk, high-reward acquisition.
The Falcons now have two fourth-year defensive ends with a lot to prove competing for the job opposite Dante Folwer. It could potentially bring out the best in both players and if not, the team can let both walk in free agency and try again next year.
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