After much anticipation, Christian Harris made his NFL debut in Week 7 against the Las Vegas Raiders. The rookie linebacker, who started the season on IR, showed a lot of promise in the Texans' 38-20 loss, according to Head Coach Lovie Smith.
"I though he got better and better," Smith said Monday. "There are some flash plays that we really liked and I go back to an issue with all the rookies when they play for the first time. We talked about flash plays, some plays that give us hope later on, we had a lot of those for Christian Harris yesterday."
After a hamstring injury sidelined him in training camp, Harris had not played a game since Jan. 10, 2022 when he suited up for Alabama in the CFP National Championship. Smith tempered expectations for the third-round draft pick's snap count in his first game off IR. However, Harris entered the game on the second play and remained for 68 percent of Houston's defensive snaps.
"I liked a lot of things that he did and he'll grade out later on," Smith said. "Saw him run around, be aggressive, be physical, taking on lead blockers, a few tackles. He'd like to have a few tackles back and then just blending into the game. We gave him a limited package this past week and hopefully we'll continue to grow that."
During his debut, Harris recorded his first career tackle in the second quarter, holding RB Josh Jacobs to a four-yard gain on third down short of the first down marker.
