The Atlanta Falcons signed Christian Harris in free agency thinking that he'd step up as the starter next to Divine Deablo after Kaden Elliss' departure. On paper, a young, athletic LB with untapped potential playing under Jeff Ulbrich was destined to end well given Deablo's been a major success.
The Falcons originally thought they struck gold with Harris, but it hasn't taken long for all of those theories to be debunked. A change of scenery was meant to unlock things for the reclamation project, but instead, things have gone off the rails much quicker than anyone has anticipated.
Rookies Kendal Daniels and Harold Perkins Jr. started to eat into his work with the starters during training camp to the point that Daniels was listed as the LB2 on the Week 1 depth chart. Being on the bench isn't too bad, but that's not all--he was as a surprise inactive during Sunday's season opener.
Could Christian Harris' future with the Atlanta Falcons be in jeopardy?
The 25-year-old wasn't listed on any of the pre-game injury reports prior to the loss to the Steelers, so you don't have to be Sherlock Holmes to know what that means: he was a healthy scratch. But what we don't know is why he was a healthy scratch just months after Ulbrich brought him here.
Deablo, Daniels, and Perkins seeing the field over the former third-round pick wasn't super surprising since that would've likely happened even if he did play, but turning to perpetual special teamer Josh Woods over him was a shocker. How did this guy go from possible starter to losing out on snaps to a former practice squad player? It's not like he's played since the end of the preseason either.
It's not even like Harris had a bad day, because this was even worse. Having no day at all. He couldn't even get an opportunity to prove himself to this coaching staff, so there's no escaping the writing on the wall here. The rookies have higher upside and he is rapidly falling down the totem pole at LB.
It begs the question of whether or not his future with the Dirty Birds could come into question. Neew GM Ian Cunningham is always willing to swing a deal when it benefits him, but it's also early enough in the season to not overreact to Week 1. But honestly, trading or even cutting the Alabama product feels very plausible after he did little to separate himself from the pack during training camp.
Christian Harris went from taking most of the first-team reps at linebacker during OTAs to being a healthy scratch on game-days. It doesn't make sense, but frankly, I don't think his stock with the Falcons can get any lower than it is currently--so this is something to monitor going forward.
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