
#96 DE · Atlanta Falcons
Height
6'5"
Weight
270 lbs
Age
24
College
Ohio State
Draft
2023, Rd 3, #75
Experience
3 yrs
DE Rank
#85 / 161
Grade this player:
| Year | Team | GP | Sacks | Tkl | TFL |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Career | ![]() | 40 | 8.5 | 81 | 13 |
| 2025 | ![]() | 7 | 4.5 | 22 | 2 |
| 2024 | ![]() | 17 | 1.0 | 26 | 4.5 |
| 2023 | ![]() | 16 |
Length
4 years
Total Value
$5.6M
Guaranteed
$1.0M
AAV
$1.4M/yr
The Falcons struck gold with Zach Harrison's four-year, $5.6M extension ($1.4M AAV), a deal that earns an impressive A- CVI and represents one of the shrewdest defensive investments this offseason. Locking up a rotational pass rusher at just $1.4M per year is exceptional value in today's market, where even backup edge defenders routinely command $3-4M annually. At 24 years old, Harrison is entering his athletic prime with room for development, making this contract a classic buy-low opportunity on a player whose production could significantly outpace his compensation. The minimal $1M guaranteed money keeps Atlanta's risk extremely low while the four-year term provides long-term cost certainty at a premium position. This is exactly the type of smart, under-the-radar move that championship teams make — securing quality depth at a fraction of market rate while Harrison's upside remains largely untapped.
Zach Harrison is a 24-year-old defensive end in his third NFL season, still carving out a defined role along Atlanta's defensive front. Earning a D overall grade, Harrison remains a developmental piece rather than a cornerstone contributor at this stage. His youth and athleticism keep the ceiling conversation alive, but consistent impact remains elusive across his 40-game career. The most striking element of Harrison's current season is his pass-rush productivity — 0.64 sacks per game against an NFL average of 0.34, flirting with the elite threshold of 0.68. That rate suggests genuine disruptive potential when he wins his matchups. The concern emerges against the run, where his 0.29 TFL per game sits just below the league average of 0.30, raising questions about his every-down reliability and finishing ability. Harrison's season-by-season arc tells a complicated story — a D+ in 2023, a difficult F in 2024, before a C+ rebound this season signals real, if fragile, growth. If his pass-rush efficiency holds and his run-defense tightens, a legitimate breakout remains plausible by 2026.
Zach Harrison enters the 2026 campaign with a C-grade public perception — cautiously optimistic on the surface, but increasingly fragile underneath. The dominant media narrative frames him as a talented rotational pass-rusher who has spent three NFL seasons delivering tantalizing flashes without the sustained consistency that separates a trusted starter from a depth piece, and his IR stint in 2025 only deepened the durability questions scouts and front offices are already scrutinizing. That narrative gap between potential and production is reflected directly in a D performance grade, a stark reminder that the highlight-reel moments — most notably his strip-sack that sparked a critical fourth-quarter takeaway — have not yet translated into the week-to-week reliability that earns a permanent role in a defensive rotation. The trade speculation swirling around Harrison is perhaps the loudest signal of where his standing truly sits: Atlanta's own front office has not committed to him long-term, and the Falcons' recent acquisitions — including a trade for Maason Smith along the defensive line and the signings of DeAngelo Malone and Elijah Garcia — suggest the organization is actively hedging its bets rather than building around him. Harrison is the definition of a prove-it player right now, a 24-year-old third-year defender whose ceiling still earns him enough goodwill in the broader football community to avoid an outright negative narrative, but whose perception could shift decisively in either direction once the 2026 regular season arrives in September.
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Zach Harrison is a player in his 3rd NFL season listed at DE for the Atlanta Falcons. FanVerdicts maintains four independent grades for every NFL player on an active roster — Contract Value Index for the deal itself, Performance for on-field production, Sentiment for media and fan reaction, and Fan Verdict for community voting. Current grades for Zach Harrison: Contract Value Index A-, Performance D, Sentiment C, Fan Verdict pending.
Every grade refreshes on its own cadence as new data lands. Performance recalculates when NFL game stats post; Sentiment updates with new media coverage and fan discussion; Contract Value Index recomputes when contract terms change; Fan Verdict reflects live community voting on this profile. Contract details below show the structure (years, total value, average annual value, guarantees) the Contract Value Index grade is computed against.
For league-wide context, the NFL hub has team rankings, GM report cards, the transactions feed, and live scoreboards. The NFL player rankings page sorts every active player by performance and contract value within their position.
| 3.0 |
| 33 |
| 6.5 |
Updated Mar 19, 2026
Recent seasons are weighted more heavily in the overall performance grade.
C+
2025
(50% weight)
F
2024
(30% weight)
D+
2023
(20% weight)