New England Patriots: N’Keal Harry will make doubters ‘bite that tongue’

Will New England Patriots 2019 first-round pick N’Keal Harry ever be an ‘elite player’ in the NFL? This NFL Media Insider doesn’t believe so.

When the New England Patriots drafted Arizona State wide receiver N’Keal Harry in the first round of the 2019 NFL Draft, there was a lot of hope surrounding his talent and a lot of hype on what kind of target he would be catching the ball from one Tom Brady.

Fast forward a year and suddenly the big, young wide receiver is extra motivated to recapture that hype.

After missing the majority of his rookie season due to a hamstring injury, Harry was an underwhelming factor in a Patriots offense that struggled for pass-catching production and stability over the second half of the season.

In finishing the season with just 12 catches for 105 yards and two touchdowns, N’Keal Harry wasn’t just a disappointment due to the injury, he was a disappointment as far as not catching on as quickly as many thought he should fair or unfair given the complicated offensive playbook and the fact that he missed the first 9 games of his rookie season.

Will 2020 be different for N’keal Harry?

Motivated to prove doubters wrong, N’Keal Harry posted the following message via Twitter last month that proves he hears the noise:

https://twitter.com/NkealHarry15/status/1244042952445325312

Well, here is some more noise for the Patriots big wide receiver to embrace.

Appearing on Dale & Keefe Wednesday, NFL Media’s Daniel Jeremiah isn’t ready to embrace Harry as a No. 1 receiver option in the NFL. When asked about the Arizona State alum, Jeremiah gave the following honest assessment, as transcribed by WEEI:

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"“He went a little bit higher than I had him, but what I thought he could do was be a red-zone guy, he was a big target, a third-down option. It’s not normal to have rookies play well at that position. Last year was not a normal year. We had A.J. Brown, (D.K.) Metcalf and (Terry) McLaurin, all these guys, Deebo Samuel, have great rookie years. It is normal for these guys to take a little bit of time.“I’d reserve judgement there. I don’t think he is going to be an elite player, I don’t think he’s going to be a No. 1 receiver, but I think he can be a solid player in the league and I think we will see how he progresses, but that is my expectation that he will get to that point.”"

Not exactly what New England Patriots fans want to hear, but it really is too soon to tell if N’Keal Harry was a first-round mistake by Bill Belichick, especially passing on all the receivers Jeremiah mentioned who could’ve been had in later rounds. But, that’s easy to say in hindsight.

Looking forward, Harry is a big target who did show some flashes during his shortened rookie season. The numbers don’t say everything. He had some impressive catches, including a touchdown that were negated due to penalties or in the case of the touchdown, poor officiating.

He also showed some flexibility on offense by showcasing his physicality on jet sweeps that you can bet on Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels to utilize a bit more.

With a new quarterback under center, N’Keal Harry should also be targeted a bit more. Behind Julian Edelman and Mohammed Sanu, he should see more targets on the outside and in the red zone as Daniel Jeremiah projects.

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In all, the big target doesn’t necessarily have to be the No. 1 option to be a dangerous weapon in the New England Patriots offense, he just has to be an option period.

In that, expect N’Keal Harry to make some doubters “bite that tongue” and show that Bill Belichick is actually capable of selecting wide receiver talent.

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