It’s been a quiet week, but drama is now brewing in New England. Patriots receiver N’Keal Harry has requested a trade, his agent Jamal Tooson announced Tuesday, via Mike Garafolo of NFL Network (on Twitter).
Tooson says in his statement that “for the past several months,” he’s been “working in cooperation with the Patriots behind the scenes to put a plan in place to allow N’Keal to thrive in New England.” “Following numerous conversations” with the team, Tooson apparently came to the conclusion that it would be best for N’Keal to get a fresh start “before the start of training camp.” As such, he is “formally requesting a trade on behalf” of his client.
Harry was taken with the last pick of the first-round in 2019, and has been a disappointment as a pro. The Arizona State product starred in college but only has 45 catches in 21 career games with the Pats. It’ll be very interesting to see what the trade market looks like for him, if there is one at all.
As a first-round pick, the next two years of Harry’s salaries are fully guaranteed. He’s still only 23, but the fact that he has struggled to get looks with the Patriots’ less-than-impressive receiving group isn’t a good sign.
As a rookie, Neal was limited to seven games by an ankle issue, but he played a bigger role in 2020. He finished the season with 33/309/2 in 14 games and nine starts, but currently finds himself behind guys like Jakobi Meyers, Kendrick Bourne and Nelson Agholor on the depth chart.
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