Be the real deal kid..be yourself & Welcome!!

@gumby73 said:

As a former TE, i follow all the geek numbers..1) Harris drop rate finished dead last among qualifying TE's. 2) Harris is a former Depaul basketball player with a quarter inch under 83" total wingspan, that knows how to box out. 3) If you put Harris's combine numbers/proday in this TE draft class he finished 3rd overall .. 4.57 40 put him faster than Ertz & Eifert in same draft class & is faster than Fells getting to 8 yard dump routes. 4)Dallas Clark prepped Harris from B-ball to Football..5) Pff grades Harris just ahead of Fells in pass blocking 73.9/72.9/ but Harris is way ahead in Run Blocking 72/55.9..6) Lastly, Dorsey is still using anna & lynic's for explosion times at ball snap mixing in with his gamefilm work.Harris arms are 34 1/4 with his hand size puts him ahead of both Iowa TE's in this draft. Numbers in Vert./Broad Jump,10 yard splits & 3 cones he ranks highly also..Hey... we all can be wrong, so i join you in this TE crab shoot..add in, cheaper,younger with some good annie numbers..what could go wrong?    

Great stuff Gumbs!  Despite the PFF ratings, I think it was much more difficult to help our UFA Rookie LT (for the first 7 or 8 games) and RT Hubbard (who struggled the first half of 2018) than it was to help 1st round LT Eric Fisher and RT Mitch Schwartz.  KC ended up in the AFC Championship Game because of their offense that Dorsey did a fine job of putting together...  All that considered, I thought Fells did an excellent job via the eye ball test.   If we upgraded him for less $ - that will be awesome...

@7moses7 said:

Amazing how this team has been GARBAGE since Kosar and now every little move Dorsey makes people on this board want to nitpick. 

That or you could keep things in the context they are presented in.  I made sure to include this statement "As hard as it seems to question anything Dorsey is doing right now" you re-contexted it to the bold above.

Dorsey was the guy who signed Fells in 2018, and I liked it and appreciated it enough to want to keep it in 2019 right?  How is that wanting to nitpick every little move Dorsey makes? 

If I didn't like what Dorsey was doing, I wouldn't have predicted an 8-8 record last year coming off 0-16 the year before...

@gumby73 said:

Pff grades Harris just ahead of Fells in pass blocking 73.9/72.9/ but Harris is way ahead in Run Blocking 72/55.9..6

He's Fells with better run blocking.  It's an upgrade in the trenches.

@flugel said:

 As hard as it seems to question anything Dorsey is doing right now, this particular decision feels like a head scratcher.   I've been wrong before though...

As a former TE, i follow all the geek numbers..1) Harris drop rate finished dead last among qualifying TE's. 2) Harris is a former Depaul basketball player with a quarter inch under 83" total wingspan, that knows how to box out. 3) If you put Harris's combine numbers/proday in this TE draft class he finished 3rd overall .. 4.57 40 put him faster than Ertz & Eifert in same draft class & is faster than Fells getting to 8 yard dump routes. 4)Dallas Clark prepped Harris from B-ball to Football..5) Pff grades Harris just ahead of Fells in pass blocking 73.9/72.9/ but Harris is way ahead in Run Blocking 72/55.9..6) Lastly, Dorsey is still using anna & lynic's for explosion times at ball snap mixing in with his gamefilm work.Harris arms are 34 1/4 with his hand size puts him ahead of both Iowa TE's in this draft. Numbers in Vert./Broad Jump,10 yard splits & 3 cones he ranks highly also..Hey... we all can be wrong, so i join you in this TE crab shoot..add in, cheaper,younger with some good annie numbers..what could go wrong?    

I don't know what Harris weights, but he has the ability to get downfield. He apparently is still only 230 lbs, but is primarily a good blocker.

https://www.cleveland.com/browns/2019/03/demetrius-harris-signed-by-the-browns-3-things-to-know-about-the-tight-end.html

1. Block first, catch passes later

Harris isn’t being acquired to compete with David Njoku for top pass-catching tight end on the roster. He’s in Cleveland to block. Harris was Pro Football Focus’ ninth-ranked blocking tight end in 2018. He was also the Chiefs’ top-graded tight end blocker (72.0). Travis Kelce graded at 59.7. He has never caught more than 18 passes in a season and has started 33 of 71 career games.

@darren15 said:

This guy is an upgrade on Fells in my opinion...... and 5 years younger

What in particular do you see him doing better than Fells especially in the role he'll be needed most for (if we keep in perspective what Njoku was drafted in round 1 to do)?

Fells may be older, but his NFL wear and tear didn't start until his late 20s/early 30s.   Yeah, we got rid of the 2 million $ against the cap - but our cap health is fine with or without him.   What I liked most about him was his ability to help set the edge while he also showcased some big play ability when called upon.  IMO, Fells gave us the same quality dual purpose TE reliability/role Steve Heiden once gave us (back when the sum of knee surgeries limited Winslow's ability to help set the edge). It's a pretty significant role in red zone and short yardage situations. My biggest worry in losing Fells is the same one I had about losing Zeitler on the right side - is his replacement ready to help Hubbard when he struggles?  As hard as it seems to question anything Dorsey is doing right now, this particular decision feels like a head scratcher.   I've been wrong before though...

But this 'he's a good blocker" stuff simply is not the case. Harris may be a better blocker than Njoku and DeValve have been, but that doesn't mean he's "good".

Not every Dorsey recruit is/will be a talent of mythical proportions as some here seem to believe. Some are just role guys with upside potential that may or may not be realized.

@orion said:

To me it makes less sense.  He's the same as Fells.  Same size and stats from last season (as I recall).

Since Dorsey has seen a lot of each, then he must know something he prefers in one over the other.

@ibleedbrown said:

And now the Fells cut makes sense. Badda bing.

To me it makes less sense.  He's the same as Fells.  Same size and stats from last season (as I recall).

Harris is not just a blocking TE. Really smart signing.

https://www.chiefs.com/video/patrick-mahomes-hits-demetrius-harris-for-35-yard-gain

https://www.chiefs.com/video/demetrius-harris-here-to-make-3rd-downs-go-right

@darren15 said:

@domcucch1994 said:

This signing makes me moist like a betty crocker cake.

forgive me lord..butt it was right there^^....?nice hat young lady..here's the guy i mentioned in another TE thread.. Dorsey has liked this guy since 2013 as a UDfa JD picked up in KC..Welcome Aboard Harris family..

GO DORSEY!!

@tour2ma said:

Same ol' Gip...

Yes, indeed.  Accurate and on point...and making you cry because you can't stand anyone having an alternate opinion...no matter how accurate and on point it is.

@nero said:

I gotta agree with Tour on this one. I'm not enthusiastic about this one.

Well.....OK.   I agree that we should not be jumping up and down about our third string TE.  

Dorsey clearly thinks he is an upgrade from Fells.    That is good enough for me....enthusiasm not necessary.

@tour2ma said:

He's not... Duke accelerates nowhere near as fast as White or before him Lewis.

And not only is Harris not a #1 receiving TE... he's not a good blocker either... that's what "across the board" means.

Again, off base observations. Like I said, I am interested what they can do for our offense, not someone else's. 

@tour2ma said:

Harris??? Meh...

Poor ratings across the board at PFF. Overall #44 TE...

Duke's not quick enough to fit Bill's RB mode.

Two bad observations in my opinion.   If Harris is our #3 TE (after Joker and Devalve) or even #2...that is all that we would ask of him...to be the primary blocking TE (which others here have commented that that will be his primary role)...Since there are 32 teams in the NFL, meaning that there would be like 96 TEs in the league:  #44 for the backup or 3rd string seems pretty acceptable.  (where does Devalve rank?)

And I think Duke is plenty quick enough to fit BBs RB mode....as quick as Dion Lewis or James White were.

But I have interest in Duke "fitting BBs mode"....I want him to fit Freddie Kitchen's  RB mode.

@domcucch1994 said:

So with all of the additions, and subtractions...

Where does Cleveland go from here?

LB/DB/OL/S are the biggest needs

Yes....still thin at those spots.

Of course, if the Earl Thomas deal comes through...not so much safety.

Zombo said:

 ... gotta be a nice TE prospect in rds 3-5.

That's a range that includes Sternberger...