Report: The Patriots Have Gotten Trade Offers for N'Keal Harry
Source - Patriots wide receiver N'Keal Harry has been a disappointment since arriving in New England as a first-round draft pick in 2019. So a change of scenery may be warranted.
Teams have been reaching out to the Patriots to inquire about trading for Harry, according to Mike Garafolo of NFL Network.
A team trading for Harry would get him for two more years on his rookie contract, with salaries of $1.4 million this year and $1.9 million next year.
[Hack comedian's voice:] D'you ever what it would happen if Bill Belichick ever got a trade offer for a guy who's had 45 catches for 414 yards and four touchdowns in his career? I think it would go ... something ... like ... this ...
Seriously, how do you keep your composure at a moment like that? Let's assume the rumor is true and it's the 49ers and Cardinals asking if you might have some interest in dealing N'Keal Harry. So you've got John Lynch or Steve Keim on the other end, expressing interest in a wideout who's played 21 games and, among the 35 WRs taken in the 2019 draft, ranks 11th in receptions, 15 in yards, 31st in yards per catch and 28th in passer rating when targeted. But tied for first in penalties. So how do you possibly handle that? It would take all the cool in the world. I hope the conversations weren't on Zoom calls because Steve Hellmuth or Johnny Chan couldn't keep a poker face in that situation. Any other GM in this situation would be screaming "What would you give me for him?!" and "We've got a deal!" before hearing what the offer was. Then he'd hang up the phone so there's no chance for quitsies, triple stamp, no erasies.
Look, obviously we have no idea what anyone is offering for Harry. (I'm talking about N'Keal, not Harry Dunne.) And any other GM who drafted him would insist on at least a second round pick as a way to save face after having drafted the guy No. 32 and had the pick go so woefully bad. Or, it would take some other GM to get hired and unload the guy, like what is about to happen in New York with Sam Darnold. This is the one guy in the league with enough clout/job security to cut his losses, take what he can get and move on. He wasted no time moving on from Chad Jackson, Ras-I Dowling, Dominique Easley and a handful of other high picks that didn't work out. I see no reason to change that for his guy if they think he can't get himself unscrewed.
And at this point, even a third rounder or a fourth and some late pick next season would feel like found money. The football equivalent of selling a junker you're about ready to donate to charity for the tax write off to someone who's willing to pay the Kelly Blue Book because he's into fixer uppers.
Maybe I'm wrong and Harry is on the verge of living up to his pre-draft hype. But at this point, I'm going with what my gut, my eyes, and the numbers say. Drafting is an inexact science. And it's never more inexact than at the wide receiver position. If they keep him, I'd love nothing more than to be one of the doubters Harry proved wrong and eat my words. But for now, I'd take whatever is being offered, move on, and hope that whatever late pick I get in return turns out to be the next Julian Edelman and not the next N'Keal Harry.