Atlanta Falcons news: Team has traded for Miami pass-rusher Charles Harris
The Atlanta Falcons have traded for Miami pass-rusher Charles Harris.
Per Tom Pelissero of the NFL Network, the Atlanta Falcons sent a future seventh-round pick for the services of defensive end Charles Harris. It seems like a win-win for both parties involved. Even if Harris is not productive at all, giving up nothing more than a seventh-round pick for him means the Falcons lose nothing in this trade with Miami.
Charles Harris was selected by the Miami Dolphins just five picks before Takk McKinley in 2017 and like many have already looked up, has been less productive than Takk over his first several years as he has logged just 3.5 sacks.
As Blogging Dirty talked about earlier this week in a few Falcons trade scenarios, the situation that Harris was in, had more to do with this lack of success than his actual ability. Context matters for players and looking at stat sheets does not always tell the entire story.
The #Falcons are sending a seventh-round pick to the #Dolphins for DE Charles Harris, per source.
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) May 1, 2020
That’s two former first-round picks Miami has moved on from in the past 24 hours: Taco Charlton cut yesterday, now Harris traded.
Harris became expendable the moment Shaq Lawson joined Miami from Buffalo at the start of free agency. Atlanta Falcons general manager Thomas Dimitroff identified a guy that he believes can help bolster the defensive line moving forward and got his guy.
As we know now, Takk McKinley’s fifth-year option was declined by the team earlier this week. Does this along with today’s trade make him expendable and available on the trade market? One would assume so given the Falcons cannot afford for another former first-round talent to simply walk away without anything in return like they did with Vic Beasley.
If both Takk and Harris are on the roster to start the 2020 regular season, it will be interesting to see how the rotation shakes out and how this will affect Takk’s work ethic and his level of buy-in throughout the next six months.
Sure, Takk is trying to get paid but between having his fifth year declined and then the franchise making a trade to bring in more edge help, he may completely check out. This will be worth watching as we head into the dog days of summer.
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Hopefully, a change in scenery will be what Charles Harris needs to live up to the expectations that he had coming out of Missouri in 2017. Like any other player, let’s give him a chance and not judge him by a stat sheet.