N’Keal Harry was quick to clear the air with Cam Newton following comments from his trainer, Rischad Whitfield.
Whitfield is a footwork guru who’s worked with the likes of Odell Beckham Jr., DeAndre Hopkins, Emmanuel Sanders and more. The trainer worked with Harry over the offseason to sharpen his footwork and route-running.
While speaking with Patriots Wire, Whitfield put some of Harry’s struggles this season on Newton.
“We’ve got a new quarterback. We’ve got to put some of that (expletive) on Cam,” Whitfield said. “Cam hasn’t been the most accurate this year. Like if (N’Keal) had Tom Brady, Tom Brady would’ve fed him. But we’re back there with Cam and Cam’s getting acclimated to the offense, too.”
In his second season as a first-round pick, Harry’s recorded 29 catches for 277 yards and two touchdowns in 11 games played. Whitfield confronted Patriot Wire’s Henry McKenna and refuted the comments, saying he was mis-quoted. McKenna stood by his reporting in response to Whitfield’s tweet.
While speaking with reporters on Thursday, Harry detailed the conversation he had with his quarterback.
“I just let him know and made sure he knew that whatever was said, I don’t know what was said, nothing came from me,” Harry said, transcribed by masslive.com. “Rischad hasn’t said anything like that to me. It doesn’t sound to me like that exact statement is something he would say. I don’t know if it was taken out of context or what happened, but I don’t know that conversation never came from me, and it was never anything that I was even aware of until I saw it on social media.”
Regarding Harry’s relationship with Newton, Harry had nothing but positive things to say.
“He’s been great,” Harry said. “He’s really gone out of his way and really made a conscious effort to make sure that he’s doing everything he can to help me. Just kind of mentor me throughout this whole season, and he’s been a huge help to me up to this point.”
Since the very first game this season, Newton’s had Harry’s back. The relationship appears to be intact. But, it’s hard to argue that Newton isn’t hindering Harry’s success when the quarterback only has five passing touchdowns on the season.
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