N’Keal Harry needs to be better, and healthy, this season

The Patriots took Arizona State wideout N’Keal Harry with their first-round pick in last year’s draft and he didn’t live up to his draft status at all.

The Patriots tried to give Tom Brady a legitimate weapon in what would end up being his final year in Foxborough, but it didn’t go according to plan.

N’Keal Harry struggled to get on the football field due to injury and only ended up appearing in seven games, starting five of those. He didn’t make the most of his playing time either, grabbing just 12 passes for 105 yards and two touchdowns.

Harry didn’t see the field until week 11 for the Patriots and he was invisible in practically every game, with his highest game for receiving yards being a measly 29 yards against the Dolphins in the final game of the regular season.

The Patriots need N’Keal Harry on the field and productive this year

One bad year doesn’t mean Harry is a bust, but it does mean the pressure is cranked up on him a little more to be more relevant in games. The Patriots took Harry in the first round because of that explosiveness he displayed at Arizona State and they hoped he’d give their offense that extra boost to get them back to the Super Bowl.

Harry was incredible at Arizona State, posting two 1,000 yard receiving seasons during his time there. He was a no brainer to be picked in the first round in 2019 and the fact that he fell to the Patriots at pick 32 was shocking.

When he went that low, people thought “Of course he landed with the Patriots” because everyone figured Brady would love throwing to him and the two would become best friends on their way to yet another Patriots Super Bowl.

While that didn’t happen, the kid is only 22 years old and maybe not having the six-time Super Bowl champion throwing to him will take some pressure off of him honestly. Cam Newton is out to prove himself this year and he won’t discriminate when it comes to spreading the football out.

Brady, especially last year, really only seemed to trust Julian Edelman in the big moments, and wouldn’t even look Harry’s way. Newton won’t do that because he doesn’t have that history with Edelman like Brady did, so this should give the second-year talent a chance to prove himself in the clutch moments.

Both Newton and Harry are out to prove themselves and they’ll need each other to do just that.

As for the depth at the position, the Patriots still have Edelman and Mohamed Sanu, but those two are in their 30s and on the downslope of their careers (which the Patriots saw with Sanu firsthand after they traded for him). Edelman is also someone who gets injured frequently, which could help Harry get more targets in year two.

Harry is the young gun out of the three and with a new quarterback in town, that could be the boost that he needs to turn things around during his sophomore season.

Staying healthy is the key for Harry, but he needs to make his snaps count when he’s on the field or else he could be onto a new team before he even knows it.