Nick
Harris.
Nick
Harris.
Washington· 6'1"· 302 lb· 5.10s 40
"Washington was the only FBS school to offer the 6-1 center, and he started 42 games, was first-team All-Pac-12 twice, then lost two NFL seasons to injuries the week after he won the job."Pre-draft read
Harris is an undersized, athletic center whose game is built on movement. At 6-1 and 302 pounds he ran 5.10 at the combine, and the tape matches: he is out of his stance and climbing to the second level faster than almost any interior lineman in the class, comfortable pulling, reaching a shaded nose and cutting off backside flow.
The leverage is real and so is the ceiling on his anchor. He plays with natural pad level and long arms for his height, which lets him win the first contact, but bull rushers who get into his frame can walk him into the pocket. He was a four-year starter, a first-team All-Pac-12 pick as a junior and senior, and a vocal line caller who set protections and won the Huskies' most inspirational award.
Wide-zone running game that asks its center to reach, climb and pull rather than displace
Year 1 swing interior backup who can start at center in a zone scheme; ceiling is a decade-long zone starting center
A gap-scheme, power-run offense that wants a 320-pound center anchoring against a two-gapping nose
Cleveland drafted him precisely for the Stefanski outside-zone system, which remains the only scheme where his frame is an asset.
FB: NFL Draft Highlights ~ Washington center Nick Harris
School-produced pre-draft reel of his reach blocks, pulls and second-level climbs at center.
Washington was the only FBS program to offer Harris out of Southern California, where evaluators liked the player and balked at the height. He started immediately as a true freshman in 2016, split his first two seasons between right guard and left guard, then moved to center for his junior and senior years and never came off the field. He played 50 games with 42 career starts, 25 of them at center, 15 at right guard and two at left guard.
The identity was consistency plus athleticism. He started 25 of a possible 27 games across his final two seasons, earned first-team All-Pac-12 honors in both, and anchored a line that fed a Pac-12 title team and a Rose Bowl appearance. He ran the line calls, and Washington's coaching staff trusted him with pre-snap responsibility from his sophomore year on.
The board saw a fourth-to-fifth-round center with a clear scheme fit and a hard ceiling. The concern was always the same: 6-1 centers with average anchor strength either find a zone-blocking team that uses their range or they end up as a backup at three positions. Cleveland, with a new Kevin Stefanski outside-zone system and an aging JC Tretter, took him 160th as the long-term answer at the position.
- 01
Athleticism
A 5.10-second 40 at 302 pounds put him among the fastest offensive linemen at the combine, and it shows on reach blocks and second-level climbs.
- 02
Zone fit
Ideal center for an outside-zone running game, able to reach a shaded nose and cut off backside pursuit without help.
- 03
Experience
Four-year starter with 42 starts across all three interior spots, including 25 at center, so the position flexibility is proven, not projected.
- 04
Leverage
Natural pad level from a 6-1 frame with long arms for his height, letting him win the first punch against taller interior defenders.
- 05
Leadership
Handled Washington's line calls and protections, and won the program's oldest team honor as its most inspirational player.
- 01
Anchor
Powerful interior bull rushers can get into his chest and walk him into the quarterback, the recurring problem on his pass-protection tape.
- 02
Size
At 6-1, 302 he lacks the mass to reset once a nose tackle two-gaps him, and he was far below the NFL norm for the position.
- 03
Power scheme fit
Limited value to a gap-and-down running team that asks a center to displace a defender straight backward off the snap.
- 04
Sustain
Wins early with quickness but loses late in reps when a defender counters, a byproduct of playing smaller than the men across from him.
Relative Athletic Score (Kent Lee Platte) benchmarks combine/pro-day numbers against every measured prospect at the position since 1987. 10.00 is elite; 5.00 is average.
— — — positional median (p50)
- 40 yd
- 5.10sp50
- Vertical
- 29.5inp50
- Broad jump
- 103inp50
- Three-cone
- —s
- Shuttle
- —s
- Bench
- 20repp50
| Yr | Team | G |
|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Washington | 12 |
| 2017 | Washington | 13 |
| 2018 | Washington | 13 |
| 2019 | Washington | 12 |
| Career | — | 50 |
Games by season are from Tankathon and sum to the 50-game career total. Career starts of 42 break down as 25 at center, 15 at right guard and two at left guard, and he started 25 of 27 possible games as a junior and senior, all at center. Washington did not publish start counts for 2016 and 2017 individually, so those cells are left unset rather than zero-filled.
A dash means the figure is not published by a source we trust — never a zero we invented.
- Noah KimQB26%
- Harold MackWR16%
- Dontae McMillanRB10%
#9 of 14 tracked contributors · Produced well above his snap share · Offense explosiveness 1.23 (p49) · CFBD — usage x PPA per tracked player
Serviceable zone-scheme center who starts when healthy and swings across the interior otherwise.
The archetype of the undersized, elite-movement zone center who turned athleticism into a Hall of Fame career.
Interior backup who fills in competently at center but never locks down a long-term starting job.
Everything above is the pre-draft evaluation. This section is what actually happened — updated year over year.
The plan never got a fair run. Harris made one start as a rookie and one more in 2021 around a hamstring injury and a COVID stint, then won the starting job outright in 2022 after the Browns released Tretter. On the second play of the preseason opener in Jacksonville he wrecked his right knee and was carted off, out for the year, and Ethan Pocic took the job and kept it. Cleveland drafted Luke Wypler in 2023, Harris signed with Seattle in March 2024, and the Browns traded a sixth-round pick to bring him back in August when Wypler broke an ankle. He started two games that fall and fractured his fibula against Philadelphia in October. Washington signed him in August 2025 and waived him four days later.
The evaluation of the player was sound; the durability was not. Six starts in 45 games is not what a team hopes for from a center it drafts to start, and the two injuries that ended his 2022 and 2024 seasons both came in the exact moments he had won the job. He remains the rare miss where the tape, the athletic profile and the fit all pointed the right way.