Harrison Phillips offers great value as a run defender could he be a starter for the Redskins?

Harrison Phillips, DL
School: Stanford | Conference: PAC 12
College Experience: Senior | Age: 21?
Height / Weight: 6-4 / 295 lbs
Projected Draft Status: 3rd Round
NFL Comparison: Jordan Phillips

College Statistics

Player Overview

Harrison Phillip’s attack style is really simple. He wins with his hands, arm extension and motor. It makes sense when you consider his wrestling background. Phillips was a three-time state wrestling champion coming out of high school in Nebraska. His technique to get off blocks with his hands is well refined. Phillips started his career at Stanford with a challenge - he practiced against Andrus Peat and Joshua Garnett his freshman year. Given the aforementioned circumstances maybe it's not much of a surprise that Phillips has been so effective and prolific as an interior defensive lineman at Stanford.

Phillips believes in setting high standards for himself and raising them. After limited playing time his freshman year and after losing just about all the 2015 season with a knee injury Phillips finally made an impressive mark his junior season and improved his play even more during his senior year. He plays with quickness off the snap and leverage. He also showed some consistent and impressive power. His character highly regarded by coach David Shaw and others around him. Phillips ought to be in consideration for any team looking for a 4-3 DT or a 3-4 DE that plays the run proficiently and offers some pass-rushing value.

Strengths

• Powerful and strong at the point of attack - plays with good leverage most snaps and rarely is pushed back or completely from his spot.
• Makes use of his hands, arm extension, and a nice up and over move to get the better of defenders and split the gaps. Looks to win immediately with quickness off the snap and movement.
• Lunch pail type player that does the dirty work in the interior of the line with effort and motor. If not making the first contact he cleans a lot of plays up subsequently.
• Proficient 1-tech DT that can cover both gaps with eyes always in the backfield and has awareness of where the ball is.

Weaknesses

• Likely will test as a below average athlete. Leaves a bit to be desired as a pass rusher and doesn't have the closing speed or burst to have his college sack numbers translate to the NFL.
• Footwork needs coaching up and is nowhere near the proficiency of his hand technique. Bottom half can be slow to catch up to momentum leading to a loss of balance.
• Can be too reliant on arm extension and can get caught up instead of pushing through. Needs to add more moves to his arsenal.

Let’s see his work:

More Harrison Phillips videos

How He Would Fit On The Redskins

Phillips likely fits best as a 4-3 DT. However, Phillips would still be very valuable to the Redskins as an interior lineman and as a defensive end. The Redskins need both a run-stopping presence in the middle of their defense and another effective defensive end that can create pressure and be complementary to the young players the team has in Johnathan Allen and Matt Ionnadis as well as provide depth to the DL group.

Phillips excels at holding the line from an interior position and at generating power and collapsing the pocket. The quickness he displays off the snap is a quality that a few older players at the position on the team haven't displayed in some years - if ever - with consistency. I also think Phillips would be most effective in the team’s nickel sub packages where he could slide inside with Allen or Ionnadis and create pressure from a more familiar alignment. Phillips isn’t likely to take over games like is expected for say Johnathan Allen - at least until coach Tomsula cleans some things up with him. But a player with his skillset is a needed supplementary (and possibly more depending on what the team does with Hood, McClain, and McGee) 3 down player on the defensive line that would be upgrading the teams run and third-down defense at a minimum.