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The last few weeks, I have looked at Marcus Epps film and Jaquiski Tartt film so I thought I should look at the other likely starting safety, Anthony Harris. Being totally honest, I thought he was pretty terrible last year and wasn’t expecting much at all from this. But I actually think he was OK and I’ll explain why below!
Stats
All stats are from PFF and only includes players who played 20% of the snaps. This means there are 98 players.
- 61.6 PFF grade, ranks 60th.
- 845 total snaps. 324 in the box, 139 over the slot, 362 at safety.
- 54 tackles, ranks 41st.
- 7 missed tackles, ranks 50th.
- 8.8% missed tackles, ranks 73rd (which is good)
- 19 ‘stops’, ranks 28th.
- Allowed 26 catches from 40 targets for 216 yards. The yards rank 60th.
- Allowed 8.3 yards per reception, which ranks 89th. Tartt was 93rd on this. Although this is great, you can’t help but feel the way these two players were used and who they were asked to cover makes the numbers slightly skewed.
Strengths
+ Versatile, can fit the modern NFL and play both free and strong safety. Can play deep safety (mainly as a split-safety) or do a very good job in the box
+ Good size and frame for a safety and is very solid in run support. Can take on tight ends and wide receivers and still make a play on the ball carrier.
The most random mini film thread of the year... Anthony Harris everyone! On 2nd watch I actually like him a bit more than I thought I would? He's more physical than I seem to remember. He's willing to take on TEs as you can see here and is really helpful in run support. pic.twitter.com/68YqUoXueP
— Jonny Page (@JonnyPage9) July 5, 2022
Remember when Barkley would be able to make a safety in the hole miss? Didn't happen this game anyway! Epps/McLeod & Harris were all active in helping to stop the run this game. pic.twitter.com/U7YbKmfaNE
— Jonny Page (@JonnyPage9) December 29, 2021
Eagles DL were dominant against the run and pass this week. Love this play from Milton Williams & Hargrave. They close this hole quickly! Great job disengaging from their blockers to make a play on the back. pic.twitter.com/13xMKUFbiz
— Jonny Page (@JonnyPage9) December 23, 2021
He actually rotates into deep safety here and still gets to the running back to prevent a big gain. This is perfectly blocked by the Bucs and could be a big gain if not for the play of Harris. He was more impressive in run support than I first thought. pic.twitter.com/YnLM0gOxW3
— Jonny Page (@JonnyPage9) July 5, 2022
Sheds the TE and makes another good tackle for a short gain. He does a great job keeping his eyes in the backfield at all times. pic.twitter.com/VrqeRDuRDW
— Jonny Page (@JonnyPage9) July 5, 2022
+ When he hits the ball carrier, he can stop their momentum due to his size and frame and stop them from falling forward on contact
When I looked at Epps last week, I mentioned how RBs would always fall forwards for a few extra yards. On the other hand, Harris can just stop a running back in his tracks. He's more similar to Tartt than I realised & the more I watched they seem like quite similar players. pic.twitter.com/ngTMpXXqCI
— Jonny Page (@JonnyPage9) July 5, 2022
+ Physical and can lay some big hits coming from deep.
Little adjustment from Gannon to stop the underneath routes killing the Eagles in the pocket 2nd half was bringing a safety up late. Still deep zone coverage but at least Harris rallied to the ball quickly. Thought it was probably his best game of the season! pic.twitter.com/lH6yOKMyu8
— Jonny Page (@JonnyPage9) January 4, 2022
+ Reads the game pretty well in zone coverage and can jump in front of receivers. 6 interceptions in 2019 not a complete fluke.
Final one for this week: the game clinching pick was a rare example of single-high man coverage with Slay following McLaurin. Small sample size but it worked well when they went to it. (Thinking ahead but if the Eagles get the Bucs - more snaps with Slay travelling with Evans?) pic.twitter.com/54bVABzxwM
— Jonny Page (@JonnyPage9) January 4, 2022
+ Can handle late safety rotation and disguises in coverage
Every 3rd down the Eagles defense are doing something different or disguising their coverage. Here Eppls lines up infront of Harris then sprints behind him to play single high. QB doesn't read correctly and Harris nearly picks this off. Check the rush by Sweat and Cox too! pic.twitter.com/hhXm43OKyX
— Jonny Page (@JonnyPage9) November 23, 2021
Eagles All22 Defense thread v. Broncos. Eagles defense is really changing and showing new looks weekly. Cover 1 press man here. I like how the Eagles deal with motion by moving Maddox & leaving Slay outside. Also enjoyed Harris showing presnap C2 then coming down to cover TE. pic.twitter.com/eZFjZFuUHm
— Jonny Page (@JonnyPage9) November 16, 2021
Eagles continue to disguise coverage and move the safety around late. Cover 2 zone here, Harris drops into intermediate zone and Maddox drops into the deep half. Wilson gets ball out on time but half a beat late and Harris may have jumped this pic.twitter.com/Hj5taMI6tE
— Jonny Page (@JonnyPage9) December 7, 2021
+ You can see his experience and instincts at time. Reads the game well for the most part.
Final one for this week: the game clinching pick was a rare example of single-high man coverage with Slay following McLaurin. Small sample size but it worked well when they went to it. (Thinking ahead but if the Eagles get the Bucs - more snaps with Slay travelling with Evans?) pic.twitter.com/54bVABzxwM
— Jonny Page (@JonnyPage9) January 4, 2022
+ He was very reliable with the Vikings when I watched him last year. He wasn’t this past year but it was his first year for a new team so you have to cut him a little bit of slack.
Weaknesses
- Not the greatest athlete, struggles to redirect after a poor step. Can lead to problems in coverage too as he is pretty tight hipped.
Gronk was always going to be a tough matchup and when the Eagles went man then he won a fair few times, here he beats Harris. I was surprised how often the Eagles rushed 5 on this game... It was more aggressive than I thought live. Too often Brady just got it out immediately. pic.twitter.com/XAUApLYzUn
— Jonny Page (@JonnyPage9) January 19, 2022
However, it's quite obvious what Harris' weaknesses are. His run support was better than I remembered but his coverage is very average. Athletically he moves worse than Tartt imo and can get picked on in man coverage if he's asked to play it. pic.twitter.com/ZMkvgBocj1
— Jonny Page (@JonnyPage9) July 5, 2022
Same again, doesn't have the athletic traits to play man from the slot. pic.twitter.com/93W9IayOZR
— Jonny Page (@JonnyPage9) July 5, 2022
Don't get me wrong he's been absolutely stitched up by his DC and/or the other safety here as he has absolutely no chance but still, the movement skills are pretty tough to watch at times. He has to be instinctive and can't recover from a false step. pic.twitter.com/m59hN5KhWW
— Jonny Page (@JonnyPage9) July 5, 2022
- Struggles with open field tackling when in space due to limited athleticism and speed.
The athletic traits also show up in open field tackling sadly. Look how much faster Slay is than him at chasing down Hill. Even Avery has a step on him. pic.twitter.com/FK6IdTNbSS
— Jonny Page (@JonnyPage9) July 5, 2022
- Seemed to be around problems last year. Harsh to blame him for all of them, but things seemed to go wrong when he was involved.
Eagles D played a lot of zone early on and just got caught out too many times. Can't tell exactly who is to blame but Singleton/Harris never seem to be far away from a bad play. The look at the end suggests one of them screwed up and was supposed to carry the TE deeper. pic.twitter.com/FKAVH19VVa
— Jonny Page (@JonnyPage9) December 7, 2021
Eagles defense has too many plays where mistakes are made by someone. Hard to pinpoint but you know there is an error. Poor coaching? Scheme? Confusion? I am guessing if CB follows the WR inside here someone (Harris?) should take the flat/TE but he doesn't and it's very easy pic.twitter.com/GwAVYi44ce
— Jonny Page (@JonnyPage9) November 9, 2021
Overall
Last week, I referenced my safety categories for the first time! Which said the following...
1. Elite player who makes the team significantly better.
2. Good starter, who doesn’t make huge errors and does what is needed.
3. A weak starter who needs replacing.
I said Epps was a clear 2 and I think Harris is slightly below a 2. However, I feel better after watching him in more detail last year than I thought I would. Watching him throughout the season, I really did not think he played well and was pretty shocked that the Eagles brought him back and let Rodney McLeod go, who I thought was far better.
After a rewatch, I don’t think Harris was as bad as I thought. However, it is very clear when studying him that he is athletically limited and simply cannot handle man coverage or being isolated in zone coverage. If you keep him in a split safety look with corners on his outside, he is more than capable of handling his zone assignments and is rarely in the wrong place or makes a huge error. His biggest issue is just his straight up lack of athleticism and tight hips, he can’t stay with fast receivers or tight ends in coverage.
I certainly underrated his ability in run support last year, however. He was really good against the run. His tackling is excellent and he has the strength to knock back running backs so they don’t pick up extra yards. He has the strength to fight through tight ends and receivers who attempt to block him and he can lay some pretty physical hits too.
Personally, I think Tartt is very similar to Harris but a better athlete which means you can do slightly more with him in coverage. I would expect Tartt and Epps to start but I think Harris will absolutely be used and will have a role to play in this defense next year. His tape was better than I thought, and he wasn’t the huge liability that I expected to see.
Overall, I am OK with the Eagles safety room, but I don’t see a way that Harris/Tartt can play as a duo for long considering their skill sets so I would be pretty concerned if Epps was to miss any time next year.
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