Another day, another N’Keal Harry comparison.
Harry has been compared to some of the best wideouts of the past decade upon being drafted in the first round by the New England Patriots. His college coach, Herm Edwards, sees a lot of Dez Bryant in Harry’s game, while former Houston Texans quarterback David Carr thinks the 21-year-old could be the second coming of Larry Fitzgerald.
Chris Simms got in on the action during Monday’s edition of “Pro Football Talk” on NBC Sports. Unlike Edwards and Carr, Simms opted to compare Harry to a wideout who’s currently among the league’s best.
“I think he’s gonna be a lot like a Michael Thomas for the New Orleans Saints,” Simms said. “Not a guy that you line up outside and go, ‘Oh, we’re gonna throw bombs down the field all day long.’ No, when he’s outside, it’s gonna be underneath routes, it’s gonna be back-shoulder, you know, 50-50 jump balls, that stuff. I think his bread and butter will be over the middle of the field. He’s amazing with the ball in his hands. The first guy cannot tackle this guy. He’s physical and he can break ankles. I think that’s the beauty of what he brings to the offense.”
There aren’t many receivers better with the football in their hands than Thomas, who ranked second among wideouts last season with 514 yards after the catch. To put that in perspective, 36.5 percent of Thomas’ total receiving yards in the 2018 campaign came after the catch. That’s an awfully impressive stat for a WR who stands at 6-foot-3 and 212 pounds. For comparison’s sake, Harry features fairly similar size at 6-foot-2 and 228 pounds.
Harry, in a nutshell, is a playmaker, the kind of which you try to get the ball to by any means possible. Luckily for the Patriots, the 32nd overall pick in this year’s draft is versatile enough to make that easy on Tom Brady. It might take some time for Harry to get his feet wet in the NFL, but he has all the makings of becoming a top-tier target.
