Report: Charles Harris a “favorite” of Chris Ballard, Colts

A lot of the draft talk around the NFL was put on hold over the past week with the rush of free agency, but it’s worth going back to take a look at one note in particular from last Friday in regards to the draft.

Bleacher Report’s Matt Miller wrote a piece on the draft buzz surrounding each team, and he wrote that Missouri defensive end Charles Harris is a “favorite” of Chris Ballard and the Colts.

Missouri's Charles Harris is a favorite of the Chris Ballard regime, per a scout I spoke with at the combine. He may seem like a reach at 15 overall, but I currently value Harris as a top-25 player.

In three seasons at Missouri, Harris played in 38 games and recorded 136 tackles, 34.5 tackles for loss, 18 sacks, and five passes defensed, five forced fumbles, and one fumble recovery. As a sophomore in 2015 he recorded 56 tackles, 18.5 tackles for loss, seven sacks, two forced fumbles, and a pass defensed, while in his junior season in 2016 he racked up 61 tackles, 12 tackles for loss, nine sacks, two forced fumbles, a fumble recovery, and two passes defensed.

The Colts certainly need pass rush help, and that is still true despite the outside linebackers they signed in free agency so far. In fact, those free agent signings could even help the case for drafting Harris, as it would allow him to play more as a situational pass rusher early on and continue to develop his all-around game. Miller is right about 15 seeming like a bit of a reach for Harris, but it will be interesting to see where the Colts value him. If the Colts really do like him enough, they’ll have him ranked highly on their board.

There’s still plenty of time to go before the draft, and we’ll hear plenty of reports and rumors in-between now and then. But it sounds like one guy they’re pretty high on right now is Charles Harris, which would give their pass rush some help. If anything, perhaps if he’s their guy they might be able to trade back to get him or something like that while adding another pick. Either way, it will be very interesting to see what the Colts do in the draft this year.