3 biggest draft busts in New England Patriots history

2019 NFL Draft: N’Keal Harry

This one could have either gone to Sony Michel or N’Keal Harry. Both felt like the wrong pick at the time, and both had better comparables on the board (in the case of Michel, Nick Chubb was right there. He even went to the same college!). However, Harry never had any impact on the Patriots. At least Michel had a great postseason in his rookie year.

The Patriots traded Harry last offseason for a seventh-round pick. That’s all the reader needs to know. The Patriots could not wait to move on from this pick three seasons later. Harry’s best season saw him catch 33 balls for 304 yards. That’s a paltry 9.4 yards per reception. He’s never scored more than two touchdowns in a season. Woof.

Now, let’s take a look at the wide receivers on the board when the Patriots took Harry: Deebo Samuel, A.J. Brown, DK Metcalf, Diontae Johnson, Terry McLaurin, and Hunter Renfrow. The Patriots had a plethora of stars to choose from, but they took the Arizona State product that was completely unproven. He showed this was by far one of the worst picks in recent memory. The only thing saving Belichick here is he never really had high picks to mess up.

Belichick is famous for being terrible at drafting receivers. He’s drafted 19 receivers since taking over the Patriots. The only ones worth anything are Deion Branch (who he had to trade due to a contract dispute), Matthew Slater (who’s a special teams ace), and Julian Edelman. Harry is next in a long list of misses at the position for the Pats.