Top 10 linebackers in the 2019 NFL Draft

#8 Joe Giles-Harris, Duke

After redshirting his first year at campus, Joe Giles-Harris was named a Freshman All-American having recorded over 100 tackles, with ten of them going for loss, four sacks and a pick. He had an even better sophomore year when he was the highest-rated linebacker in the nation by Pro Football Focus and a pretty good nine-game stretch last year before missing the rest of the year due to an MCL sprain. The coaches still voted him first-team All-ACC for the second year because of the efforts he had shown.

With excellent size at 6’2”, almost 240 pounds, Giles-Harris primarily played WILL linebacker in the Blue Devils’ 4-2 scheme. He plays with great urgency and motor. Giles-Harris is very physical and a force against the run, who meets blockers trying to climb up to him halfway and doesn’t allow them to get into his frame for the most part.

The former Dukey continues to sort his way through chaos and bring the running back to the ground. He doesn’t buy eye-candy and stays true to his responsibility. Against lead-blockers, he lowers his pads and stands his ground and he uses active hands against cut-block attempts. When meeting the ball-carrier in the hole, Giles-Harris stands that guy up and runs through the tackle, consistently landing on top of the opponent when they go to the ground and rarely failing to finish.

Giles-Harris has quality experience in man and zone coverage. He has good enough hips to transition from routes and speed to run stride for stride with crossers one-on-one. He can pass tight-ends on to the safety down the seams and still play his hook-to-curl zone, plus he is physical with receivers coming into his area, messing up the timing on mesh concepts and such as.

Giles-Harris won’t allow easy underneath completions by immediately flipping his hips on wheel routes when there’s a crosser coming into his area. The three-year starter understands the internal clock of the quarterback and when it is time to pull the trigger, knocking the ball out of the hands of plenty of receivers. He is also quick to jump on screen passes underneath him and has the burst to go over the top against swing screens.

The former Blue Devil has experience rushing the passer from the interior and the edge. When doing so he attacks one half of the blocker and tries to run through the contact with good pad level or swim past the guy to put pressure on the quarterback. Giles-Harris has also been part of stunts, where he loops around from one B-gap to the opposite one with his D-tackles filling up inside, leading to a pressure on about every sixth pass-rush attempt last season.

When blockers do get hands in his chest, Giles-Harris often is content with just taking up space and doesn’t do enough to get rid of the contact. He gets pretty handsy with receivers he is tagged with once the routes are turned upfield. Even though it has been good enough at the collegiate level he is not quite sudden enough at opening up his hips to stay with NFL receivers. The Duke standout struggled mightily to find his footing in last year’s game versus Miami when the field was soaked with rain.

He might not have the same type of flashy athleticism the guys ahead of him have, but Giles-Harris provides high football IQ and instincts for the position. He was Duke’s team MVP in 2017 and a captain last year. While you probably don’t want to give him the same type of coverage responsibilities he had in college, I think he can be a quality contributor on third downs as well.