The Patriots selected N’Keal Harry in the first-round of the 2019 draft. Harry was selected with the 32nd overall pick, but, after two seasons, it looks like Harry’s tenure in New England is up.
Harry’s agent released a statement to NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo, requesting a trade.
This trade request comes after the Patriots spent over $80 million in guaranteed contracts to pass-catchers in free agency. Hunter Henry, Jonnu Smith, Nelson Agholor, and Kendrick Bourne will all likely be instrumental to the Patriots passing-attack in 2021. This doesn’t include Jakobi Meyers, or James White who will both likely receive impact targets in the pass-game.
But, before the Patriots spent all of this money in free agency, N’Keal Harry had every opportunity to succeed in this offense, and he failed to take on that opportunity. Harry was lapped on the depth chart by UDFA Jakobi Meyers and journeyman Damiere Byrd in 2020.
Harry failed to take a leap from year one to year two. Sure, he had Cam Newton throwing the ball to him, but Harry could have taken a strangle hold of a wide open receiver room, and he just didn’t. He didn’t look to improve upon his flaws, and still showed some inconsistency in his knowledge of the playbook.
Harry’s agent cited that, “Through two seasons, he has 86 targets, which obviously hasn’t met the expectations.”
That claim is accurate, but the reason why the targets weren’t there for N’Keal Harry were simple. Harry’s ability as a route runner, his poor footwork, his turnovers, and durability have led to the 86 targets. Harry plays out of control, and has failed to produce consistently. Sure, we’ve seen flashes of nice grabs, but Harry was never able to string together consistent games. On a week-to-week basis, it was impossible to project how N’Keal Harry would look.
Of Harry’s 86 targets, he only caught 47 passes. That’s a catch rate of only 54.6%. To put that into perspective, Jakobi Meyers was targeted 122 times in the exact same time span as Harry. But, Meyers caught 85 passes, which is a catch rate of 69.7%.
The Patriots have openly stated the willingness to get N’Keal Harry the ball. In 2019, Josh McDaniels made a comment about the Patriots effort to get Harry the ball. This was also apparent from all the end around plays that were designed for Harry.
It hasn’t been the lack of opportunities for N’Keal Harry, he’s simply underachieved, and he just isn’t the kind of receiver that his agent thinks he is.
So, where do the Patriots go from here?
If the Patriots wanted to move N’Keal Harry before this trade request, I would assume that they would have received a fourth-round pick in return. But, this trade request kills all leverage, and now, it’s almost a virtual certainty that Harry gets moved for a sixth or seventh-round pick.
It wouldn’t shock me the slightest if Belichick did not immediately comply to Harry’s agent request. I imagine that Belichick can’t be too thrilled with this public request, and might make life difficult for Harry and his agent. Despite the fact that he’d enter training camp on the roster bubble, are the Patriots prepared to simply give him away?
From Belichick’s perspective, Harry has no ground to stand on. He’s a failed draft pick, that is in danger of falling out of the league. The Patriots invested a first-round pick into him. They don’t want to see him fail, they wanted him to flourish. Blowing himself up in New England makes things much more difficult for Harry in the future. He won’t get the time for growth and development in another uniform.
But, if this is indeed it for N’Keal Harry and the Patriots, it will go down as a failure on all levels.