Vikings Draft 2019: Head to Head – Damien Harris vs. David Montgomery

Receiving Ability

Harris has shown the ability to catch the ball out of the backfield but wasn’t asked to all that often during his time at Alabama. He had 52 receptions for 407 yards and two touchdowns in his career with the Crimson Tide. He did catch 22 balls a season ago, so it’s definitely a part of his repertoire and one that has grown over time.

Montgomery was used more often in the passing game at Iowa State. He has displayed soft hands and is definitely comfortable catching the football. He had 71 career receptions for 582 yards, but he never found the end zone once as a receiver. This is a close one but Montgomery is going to squeak this one out.

Advantage: Montgomery

Vision

These guys both display excellent vision on tape. They find the hole, make a quick cut, and explode through it. Both display good patience as well and wait for the hole to appear or for their blocks to get set up. Harris and Montgomery also do well to find cut back lanes when they appear. It’s very difficult to choose a winner in this category so we won’t.

Advantage: Push

Experience

This would seem to be a pretty simple comparison on paper but the level of competition should be factored in here too. Montgomery played three years at Iowa State and carried the ball 624 times. Harris played one more season but had fewer touches. The Big 12 is a good conference but playing in the SEC is the closest thing college teams can get to the NFL, so Harris is going to get the nod here.

Advantage: Harris