New England Patriots: 1 bold prediction for Damien Harris in 2021

The 2021 NFL season is going to be the year of the Alabama Hammer. Leading a deep, talented New England Patriots running back group, third year running back Damien Harris is ready to put the league on notice by punishing defenses with his power and breakaway speed.

As the team’s featured back entering the season, Harris will have players behind him as motivation. Yes, the team shipped Sony Michel out of town, but 2021 fourth-round pick Rhamondre Stevenson turned heads during the preseason and former undrafted rookie J.J. Taylor broke ankles as a duel-threat out of the backfield.

With those players hungry for more snaps, Harris will need to keep his own hunger rumbling through defenders and he needs to also stay healthy. In 10 games last season, Harris rushed for 691 yards and two touchdowns. More impressively, he rushed for 5.0 yards per carry. That was before he went down with a season-ending injury.

New England Patriots running back Damien Harris highly graded

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In fact, the Patriots lead running back was PFF’s second-highest graded running backs

in 2020 with that 5.0 yards per carry. With a rookie quarterback in Mac Jones and a beefed-up offensive line with the massive Trent Brown back at left tackle, Harris is destined for breakout 2021 season as his workload should increase.

In just playing two games during his rookie season, Harris’ impact in 2020 gave the team and fans a glimpse of what he can be in the run game and in the passing game. He also showed Patriots head coach Bill Belichick a work ethic we all know the coach appreciates. That hard work displayed itself into training camp and spilled into the preseason where Harris continued to shine and show he is the lead back this team has been looking for since the days of LeGarrette Blount.

"“Damien works extremely hard,” Belichick said back in June, as transcribed by NBC Sports. “Works at all phases, all aspects of his game, certainly his conditioning and training, running game, passing game, protection, route running, catching the ball.“He’s a hard-working kid that just tries to do whatever he can to help the team and he’s got a lot of skill and can contribute in a variety of ways and he’s looking to improve and upgrade where he is in every area. So, Ivan (Fears) and Vinnie (Sunseri) have worked hard with Damien. He’s responded well and I think he’s off to a really good start in preparation for the season.”"

It is his ability to catch the ball out of the backfield that will really make Harris a dangerous weapon in the offense. That ability will keep opposing defenses off-balance as Harris can obviously run the ball between the tackle, but his ability to catch will allow Mac Jones to excel in the pass-action game giving him a reliable check-down target.

While the depth behind him and the way Belichick likes to interchange backs may heed his production as far as stats, the bold prediction for the 2021 season is Harris rushing for over 1300 yards.

Again, with an offensive line of Brown, Michael Owenu, Isaiah Wynn, David Andrews and Shaq Mason, the New England Patriots are prepared to bring back that smash mouth style that Harris will excel in.

He won’t get the acknowledgements top AFC running backs like Derrick Henry, Nick Chubb and Joe Mixon will get heading into the season, but by midseason, Harris will have the NFL talking as he will be well on his way to one of the more productive running back seasons the Patriots have seen in quite a while.

Next. 1 bold prediction for Rhamondre Stevenson in 2021. dark

It’s going to be run to watch, especially with a beast like Stevenson giving him a break here and there.

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