N’Keal Harry’s trainer, Rischad Whitfield, made headlines for all the wrong reasons this week while discussing the New England Patriots wide receiver’s development, or lack thereof, this season.
Whitfield was quoted by PatriotsWire.com’s Henry McKenna as saying that quarterback Cam Newton was one of the reasons why Harry has not lived up to his first-round billing this season. Harry clarified Thursday that those sentiments did not come from him.
“Yeah, I just let (Newton) know, I just made sure he knew that whatever was said — I don’t know what was said — but nothing came from me,” Harry said. “Rischad hasn’t said anything like that to me. It doesn’t sound to me like something — that exact statement is something he would say. I don’t know if it was taken out of context or what happened, but I don’t know. That conversation never came from me and it was never anything that I was even aware of until I saw it on social media.”
Here’s what Whitfield told PatriotsWire.com, via Henry McKenna:
“We’ve got a new quarterback. We’ve got to put some of that (expletive) on Cam. Cam hasn’t been the most accurate this year. Like if (N’Keal) had Tom Brady, Tom Brady would’ve fed him. But we’re back there with Cam and Cam’s getting acclimated to the offense, too. …
“It’s a big deal coming from Tom Brady to Cam Newton. … That’s one of Cam Newton’s biggest issues is mechanics.”
Whitfield says he was misquoted.
Whitfield also posted a video further expressing his side of things. (Disclaimer: there’s some NSFW language included.)
ForTheWin.com’s Charles McDonald tweeted that he heard audio of Whitfield’s interview and that the trainer was accurately quoted in the story.
“He’s been great,” Harry said about Newton. “I said it earlier in the season. He’s really gone out of his way and really made a conscious effort to make sure that he’s doing everything he can to help me and just kind of mentoring me throughout this whole season. He’s been a huge help to me up to this point.”
Harry has 29 catches for 277 yards with two touchdowns in 11 games this season. He began the year second on the Patriots’ depth chart behind Damiere Byrd but ahead of Julian Edelman, Jakobi Meyers and Gunner Olszewski. He suffered a concussion midway through the season, missed two games and was passed by Meyers, who has 42 catches for 505 yards in 11 games. Harry ranks fourth in yards among Patriots pass-catchers behind Byrd, Meyers and Edelman.
