All signs point to wide receiver N’Keal Harry sticking with the Patriots, despite his agent issuing a public trade request this offseason.
Coach Bill Belichick had plenty of praise for Harry Tuesday morning, the day the team had to finalize its 53-man roster. The Patriots cut a pair of young receivers, Kristian Wilkerson and Isaiah Zuber, apparently solidifying Harry’s standing.
“I think N’Keal had a good camp,” Belichick said. “Last year was a lot different for all of us, so it’s hard to compare last year to anything. Really just looking at this year, I thought N’Keal had a good camp, and I’m glad we have him. I think he’ll make a big contribution to our team.”
Harry, 23, selected 32nd overall in the first round of the 2019 draft, left much to be desired through his first two seasons. Last year, he caught 33 passes for 309 yards and two touchdowns — an underwhelming stat line, given the open opportunity at wide receiver.
This year, Harry will compete with Nelson Agoholor, Kendrick Bourne, and Jakobi Meyers to earn targets. Tight ends Hunter Henry and Jonnu Smith also will affect the distribution.
Harry put together a solid training camp, with some catches worthy of a highlight reel, but his numbers remained quiet in the preseason games.
Against Washington, Harry logged the most snaps of any offensive skill-position player, yet finished with just one 4-yard catch on one target. Against the Eagles, he had an opportunity to make a huge catch, but ended up injuring himself while trying to reel in the pass from quarterback Mac Jones. He finished with one catch, this time for 19 yards.
Harry has not practiced since suffering the upper-body injury.
“We’ll see how it all goes, from a time standpoint of when he’ll be able to get back on the field,” Belichick said. “But I know he’s working hard and is making progress with his rehab. So, we’ll just keep monitoring that and see how it goes.”
Neither Harry nor Belichick has said much publicly about the trade request. Harry has reiterated his interest in being a Patriot, while Belichick has maintained all is well with their relationship.
“I never talked to his agent,” Belichick said. “You’d have to ask his agent, whatever he did or didn’t say. I don’t even know. I’m a coach. N’Keal’s a player. I think we have a good player-coach relationship. We’ve talked, so whatever somebody else said or did or whatever, you should talk to them about that.”
Nicole Yang can be reached at nicole.yang@globe.com.
"though" - Google News
September 01, 2021 at 01:35AM
https://ift.tt/3kWWVjZ
It looks as though N’Keal Harry will be sticking with the Patriots after all - The Boston Globe
"though" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2FnFft4
https://ift.tt/3dmAmQf
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "It looks as though N’Keal Harry will be sticking with the Patriots after all - The Boston Globe"
Post a Comment