In moments of chaos, we turn to those we trust most.
So when former ASU quarterback Manny Wilkins felt pressure from the pass rush – a signal he had fractions of a second to throw the ball – he would look for the guy wearing No. 1, N’Keal Harry. At least, that’s what coach Herm Edwards always instructed Wilkins to do: get the ball in Harry’s hands.
“It’s the trust factor. When a quarterback is under duress and he’s got to make a decision, who does he trust?'” Edwards told Patriots Wire by phone on Tuesday. “Who is he going to trust when the pocket collapses and he steps his way out? Those are the things that N’Keal understands. That’s what he had here with Manny. And that’s the conversation I had with Manny: ‘When it all breaks down, just look for 1. He’s going to bail us out.’ That’s what quarterbacks want to know. Who’s going to bail me out?”
At ASU, Harry proved an excellent bailout plan — he had a knack for making sensational plays when it mattered most. In New England, Harry hasn’t had the same impact. His rookie season was marred with disappointments, and he spent the first eight games on injured reserve with an ankle injury before being a healthy scratch in his first game back from the injury. In the final seven games of the regular season, he managed just 12 catches, 105 yards and two touchdowns. During the Patriots’ playoff loss to the Tennessee Titans, Harry had just two catches on seven targets for 21 yards on 41 snaps (67%). He also had one carry for seven yards.
What should have been Harry’s most impactful play of the season, a 13-yard reception in the fourth quarter of a tight game against the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 14, was ultimately a source of anticlimax. Due to circumstances outside Harry’s control, his play came up short. The play was ruled a 13-yard catch after the official thought he saw Harry step out of bounds, and the call wiped away a go-ahead touchdown in the final moments of the game. He almost delivered a game-changing play. It felt that way for most of the year with Harry. He was almost there.
He battled the rigors of a challenging playbook and an injury, and flashed a few brilliant plays, but they were too few. He couldn’t quite make an impact in consistent or meaningful ways. But this is what Edwards warned us of before the start of the 2019 season. In a conversation with me last May, Edwards urged New England to stay patient with Harry, who might need extra time for development. That’s why we got back on the phone to reset expectations for 2020.
“Knowing N’Keal, he has gained some confidence with the experience that he had,” Edwards said. “I think he’ll enjoy (the increased pressure). He kind of loves that. That’s the competitiveness in him. He enjoys that part of it — when it’s hard. He likes hard. He knows right now he has a window to grow up with this quarterback that they have (in Jarrett Stidham), because the quarterback doesn’t have a lot of experience either.”
In New England, rookie receivers get a pass. It’s hard to acclimate to the Patriots offense, which has an enormous playbook that requires its receivers to read the defense — and generally as quickly and accurately as Tom Brady. The second year, however, is a different story. Expectations for Harry are growing quickly, particularly after the team elected not to add a receiver in the 2020 NFL Draft. And there might not be a single player with such little production in 2019 who carries such a large amount of pressure in 2020.
“Watching ‘The Last Dance,’ there’s a lot of times where Michael Jordan is talking about always wanting to prove himself. N’Keal’s got that in him,” said Rob Likens, who coached receivers at ASU before joining Miami University for 2020. “He’s got that fierce, fierce competitive nature where he just absolutely hates to lose. He’s not going to take ‘second-team’ as an answer. He’s going to go and prove that wrong.”
Harry is the third receiver on the depth chart behind Julian Edelman and Mohamed Sanu, but it’s fair to wonder whether Harry should finish the season as the receiver who draws the opponent’s top cornerback, essentially making him the No. 1 wideout. No matter how the depth chart shakes out, Edelman needs a partner in playmaking.
Stidham and Harry were in the lockers next to one another during the 2019 season. The Patriots seem to like to use locker proximity as a way to build a bond between two players. At least, that’s what they did with Brady and his pass-catchers. So it stands to reason that the Patriots hope Harry, a 2019 first-round draft pick, will evolve into Stidham’s go-to option. With Brady leaving for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Stidham seems to have gotten the promotion to QB1. Harry needs to make the leap to WR1, too.
“They need each other to be successful,” Likens said of Harry and Stidham.
The biggest factors will be Harry’s ability to effortlessly run the offense and his ability to beat press coverage. When those two things come together, Harry will create more separation from his defenders downfield and, in turn, draw more targets. But it’ll come back to trust between Harry and Stidham, because the receiver may never create separation like Edelman. That’s just not Harry’s game.
“He’s always going to be covered,” Edwards said. “You’re always trying to separate, but in that league, the separation — unless it’s s blown coverage — is tight. The defenders are so good, and that’s why the windows are so small. In the NFL, no one is open. But there’s certain spaces on the field you want to attack.”
Edwards added: “When you’re guarding (Harry) and think he’s covered, he ain’t covered. He can still jump up and get the ball.”
There’s no doubt that what Edwards is saying about Harry was true in college. It’s just a matter of Harry making it true in the NFL. His tremendous potential needs to materialize into production in 2020. Stidham and the rest of the Patriots offense will be counting on Harry to be much better next season.
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