N’Keal Harry hasn’t impressed many NFL observers on the field on the field during his professional career and he apparently has made a big mistake off of it.
ESPN’s Adam Schefter on Tuesday criticized the New England Patriots wide receiver for publicly requesting a trade to another team. Jamal Tooson, Harry’s agent, said in a statement the 2019 first-round draft pick would benefit from a “fresh start” due to limited opportunities to flourish in New England, Schefter believes Harry has hurt his chances of moving by publicizing his request.
“Now, again, this, I don’t know was the wisest move that N’Keal Harry could have made. If he wants a trade, it would be very simple for him to go into the office of head coach Bill Belichick and privately tell him that he thinks it’s in the best interest of everybody to move on,” Schefter said on “The Adam Schefter Podcast.” “But he did it publicly. And my guess would be that if you want out of New England, the way to do that would not be through the media, that if you’re going to do it that way, you hurt your chances and put a bull’s-eye on yourself for the summer.”
Harry wants the Patriots to trade him before the July 28 start of training camp, but Schefter doesn’t believe his public request will force the team to follow the receiver’s desired timeline.
“And so I don’t think N’Keal Harry is going to get traded any time soon,” Schefter continued. “I do think he has basically invited more attention and scrutiny on himself. But I don’t think he’s done anything to further his cause of wanting out of New England.
“Now I love a trade story as much as anybody, and if a player wants out, and they want to tell me about that, I’m always here and I’m always open to reporting it.
“But the truth of the matter is, it’s usually better for the player to handle those issues privately with his organization, which is not what N’Keal Harry opted to do here. And now we’ll wait to see how that shakes out. I’m going to bet that the Patriots aren’t going to let anybody tell them what they are or aren’t going to do — that the Patriots are going to do exactly what they want to do.”
Since Harry publicized his trade request, reports about the Patriots’ reaction to the request, potential compensation and possible destinations have emerged in the media.
It will take some time for Harry’s future to come clearer into focus, but for now, the player who caught just 45 passes for 414 yards and four touchdowns in his first two NFL seasons looks to Schefter and others like he’s stuck in place.
