Getty Charles Harris during a Dolphins game.
The Detroit Lions signed Charles Harris to bolster their defensive line in a cheap way last week, and Harris is coming into the mix in order to do one thing and one thing only.
Get after the quarterback.
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After Harris spoke with the media following his deal being announced, the defensive lineman revealed that he had a chat with ownership upon agreeing to sign with the Lions. Sheila Ford’s message was a simple one: get after it up front and hit the opposing team’s passer.
Asked what his role is this fall, new Lions pass rusher Charles Harris reiterated what Sheila Ford Hamp told him: Go get the QB.
This offseason, Ford has been said to be sitting in on meetings preparing the team for free agency and the draft, so it’s a nice personal touch for the owner to lend her blessing to a signing and make a new player feel welcome. Considering the icy relationship the Lions have had with some of their other players through the years, this is a welcome change
Clearly, it’s something Harris liked too, as he was not afraid to admit.
As a whole, it’s nice to see the Lions taking this approach and their free agents recognizing it. Does that mean there could be a change in the future for the organization? Perhaps.
Charles Harris Stats and Highlights
Harris was a former first-round pick out of Missouri back in 2017, and while he might not have lived up to the grade with the Dolphins, it’s clear he does offer some upside in the trenches. Harris has 6.5 career sacks, but 3 of those came when he was playing with the Falcons during the 2020 season. Harris also has 79 tackles, 4 passes defended and 1 fumble recovery in his career.
Harris has yet to show signs of being a consistently elite pass rusher in the NFL, but he could offer the Lions some help off the edge given the major need Detroit has at the spot. The Lions are looking to re-make a defense which does not get after the quarterback, so adding Harris and his ability to pressure would be considered a win. The 2021 draft is thin on edge prospects, so Harris offers a young player with some upside that might be able to turn his career around given a change of scenery.
Watching the highlights, Harris is a talented player.
The hope for Lions fans if Harris is signed? Get back to the kind of play he showed in college which made him a star and hammer the quarterback in a major way.
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Lions Need More Quarterback Sacks
If there’s a reason to like the signing, it’s the fact that Harris is the type of guy who could bring some punch as it relates to fixing this problem for the Lions. Detroit’s quarterback pressure has left plenty to be desired the last few seasons, and since 2018, the team’s sack total has decreased every year. In 2018, the Lions put up 43 sacks. That number dropped to 28 in 2019, and finally bottomed out at 24 in 2020. In other words, Matt Patricia helped make the play of the team’s defensive line worse, so getting them back to attacking is huge for the future of the entire defense.
While Harris hasn’t accounted for many sacks in his career to this point, it’s clear that the team is betting on him being able to pack a punch in the trenches up front and pick up the slack for their defense.
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