Film room study: What did Cleveland Browns get with Ronnie Harrison

Harrison shows more comfort in zone coverage

With a ton of reps playing from a traditional safety look at the third level of the defense in addition to his ability to play at the second level, Harrison shows a great deal of savvy and instincts in zone coverage. As mentioned earlier, Harrison’s eyes stay locked on the quarterback’s eyes, which allow for him to diagnose the flow of the play with efficiency.

In this next clip, Harrison is playing in what looks to be in cover-two, meaning he and the other safety are responsible for over the top help, each taking half of the field. However with his eyes on Dalton, Harrison sees him rolling away from his half of the field and attaches himself to the receiver rolling with Dalton in Tyler Boyd.

Knowing Dalton will not in turn throw the ball behind his body and to the other side of the field, Harrison abandons his deep zone and sticks in the hip pocket of Boyd laterally across the field. He ends the play with a pass break-up along the sideline.

While this next play can be credited as a horrible read by the now backup quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys, Harrison recognizes the flow of the play and decides to insert himself into the middle of the route pattern instead of bailing deep. Dalton throws the ball right into his lap for the interception.

He can come up to the line of scrimmage and bump-and-run with tight ends and he can play with a high level of intellect in zone coverage as well. While Harrison has his inadequacies in coverage, he certainly has more than just a few strengths against the pass that Woods and the Browns can scheme their defense around.