New England Patriots: 3 veterans who may not crack the 53 man roster

With training camp set to kick off this upcoming week, football is finally nearing a return. It’s safe to say the New England Patriots will certainly being looking forward to hitting the field and putting an ugly 2020 season behind them.

Armed with tons of cap space and numerous draft picks, the Patriots dominated the offseason. They added a lot of new faces who should look to come in and help this team bounce back after last seasons disappointments. If everything breaks right for the Pats, they could find themselves back in the playoffs after a one season layoff.

Of course, new additions means new competition, and it may lead to some people finding themselves on the outside looking in. We already saw some of this beginning to come to fruition during minicamp, but training camp is really where coach Bill Belichick and his staff will start weeding out the extra bodies on the 90 man roster.

As a result of all the new players on the team, there are some veteran holdovers on New England who may find themselves without a roster spot when the season gets started. Here are three players who could find themselves without a roster spot by the end of training camp.

New England Patriots Veteran No. 3: N’Keal Harry

This one is kind of a gimme, but if N’Keal Harry is still on the roster by the start of the season, there will be a lot of surprised Patriots fans to say the least. The third year wideout has requested a trade off of the Patriots after complaining about not getting enough opportunities to succeed, which probably won’t go over too well with Belichick.

Harry’s struggles over his first two seasons have been well documented. He’s struggled to stay healthy, and when he has been on the field, he has shown a complete lack of ability to get open from his defender. Harry eventually got passed over by Jakobi Meyers and Damiere Byrd on the depth chart, leading to his eventual trade request.

Even if Harry didn’t request a trade, there was a good shot he wouldn’t have made the roster anyways. He had already got passed over by Meyers, and while Byrd is gone, New England added Nelson Agholor and Kendrick Bourne in free agency this offseason, and both will presumably find themselves ahead of Harry on the depth chart.

It’s tough to see New England presumably waste a first rounder on Harry, but that’s just the way the cookie crumbles sometimes. Contrary to his beliefs, he was given ample opportunity to succeed, he just never did anything to warrant more playing time. If the Patriots can find a trade partner for the disgruntled wide receiver, they should take what they can get for him; otherwise they will probably be forced to cut him without getting anything in return,