Could N’Keal Harry’s underwhelming New England Patriots tenure finally be nearing an end?
Multiple teams “have shown recent interest” in trading for the 24-year-old wide receiver, according to a report Thursday from Doug Kyed of Pro Football Focus.
Harry’s name appeared in trade rumors last year, as well, and his agent publicly requested a trade last offseason. Such a deal never materialized, and the 2019 first-round draft pick made only sporadic contributions in his third pro season, catching just 12 passes for 184 yards and no touchdowns in 12 games.
For one late-season game, the Patriots benched Harry in favor of practice squadder Kristian Wilkerson, who caught two touchdown passes while Harry was a healthy inactive.
Harry is the most disappointing member of 2019’s loaded wide receiver class. Drafted ahead of players like A.J. Brown, Deebo Samuel, D.K. Metcalf, Terry McLaurin, Diontae Johnson and Hunter Renfrow, he has a career receiving line of 57-598-4 across 33 games, with a 55.3% catch rate that ranks 98th out of 108 wideouts with at least 100 targets during that span.
The Patriots aren’t likely to fetch much in return for Harry, who is entering the final year of his rookie contract, but another club could look at his impressive physical traits (6-foot-4, 225 pounds with contested-catch ability) and believe he could improve with a fresh start. Dealing the former Arizona State star to the Cardinals in exchange for Andy Isabella would be an intriguing swap of 2019 draft busts.
Isabella, a second-rounder out of UMass that year, was given permission to seek a trade after playing just 30 offensive snaps and catching one pass this season.
Trading Harry — the distant No. 4 in the Patriots’ receiving corps behind Jakobi Meyers, Kendrick Bourne and Nelson Agholor — would clear roughly $1.9 million in salary cap space while leaving behind $1.3 million in dead money.
