N'Keal Harry (lack of) Progress Report

Brady6 · Oct 20, 2020

McDaniels has never been able to draft and develop a WR/TE in his time as OC, Gronkowski, Branch, Hernandez, Edelman, and Givens were all drafted in years he was not OC. During his time as OC we’ve draft 13 WR/TE and the only one with any level of success was Mitchell.

borg · Oct 20, 2020

203Pat said:
Looks like EEI was discussing Harry as well.

In 12 career games, Harry has 30 catches for 271 yards and three touchdowns. It is worth pointing out that 42 of them -- 15 percent -- came on the final drive against the Seahawks in Week 2.

Monday on Dale & Keefe, Rich Keefe found a pre-draft scouting report on Harry from Walker Football that seems pretty spot-on.

“Team sources say that Harry is not real twitchy or explosive," it read. "They worry about how he’s not fast in and out of breaks and don’t see suddenness. Some sources said that Harry reminded them of Ole Miss wide out Laquon Treadwell, who is currently headed towards bust status wth the Vikings. Some other sources are saying they are grading Harry on the second day of the 2019 NFL Draft and feel he is a kin to Indianapolis Colts wide receiver Devin Funchess. One team source said they originally planned on grading Harry in Round 2, but were lowering him to the third round.”

https://www.radio.com/weei/sports/p...spot-on?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

Seconds after NE drafted Harry, I located a scouting report that opened with: "Has difficulty creating separation"

catent · Oct 20, 2020

Boomer B said:
I just looked back at a bunch of the draft sites 2019 WR rankings and far and away D.K. Metcalf was number one on a lot of them. The Walter Football one had Metcalf 1 and Harry 6. Maybe we should hire their WR scout.

Yeah, and they had Chase Claypool at #6 for the 2020 draft and Jefferson at #5. Both of those guys have been tearing it up which disproves the notion that not being #1 in one person's subjective draft rankings makes a player garbage, and that we should hire this guy as our scout.

Being the #6 ranked WR doesn't mean you're bad; it means there are other good WRs in the draft. There is also so much more to player development than college evaluations.

Boomer B said:
Cam’s doing what Brady did, if he’s not open he’s not getting the ball. Cam isn’t gonna risk a turnover if the DB is in Harry’s back pocket (like he was on the INT on Sunday). That’s why Harry had only 2 targets on 55 plays. Claypool is light years ahead of Harry.

Claypool was ranked #6 among WRs in the 2020 Walter Football draft rankings, though. There's no way he could be any good.

DropKickFlutie · Oct 20, 2020

Brady6 said:
McDaniels has never been able to draft and develop a WR/TE in his time as OC, Gronkowski, Branch, Hernandez, Edelman, and Givens were all drafted in years he was not OC. During his time as OC we’ve draft 13 WR/TE and the only one with any level of success was Mitchell.

Exactly. McDaniels is like 0/15 on WR picks as a Pats OC. Every good skill player was taken under O'Brien or Weiss.

catent · Oct 20, 2020

Yeah, Harry looks ... bad. Really bad.

They need to get the ball in his hands ASAP - end-arounds, reverses, quick screens, designed fades/back-shoulder throws, etc. If he can develop into a more polished receiver remains to be seen, but the guy has some physical tools to be a good player. As others have noted, plenty of other NFL WRs have struggled with quick feet but still were utilized successfully by their coaches.

Beyond coaching/utilization, another clear issue is that the guy just lacks confidence. Setting aside footwork for a moment, if the guy was confident and aggressive that'd help a ton. I don't care about what physical tools you do/don't have: if you're thinking too hard and not playing freely, you're going to struggle, period. I wonder if being smothered by such a good secondary in practice day-after-day has hurt his development.

They need to get him to loosen up and just go out and play without thinking too much. The technique, footwork, etc don't have to be perfect - stop getting him overly focused on that. The guy is 6'3", 220 lbs and athletically gifted - he should be having success. Just tell him to go out there and play.

Boomer B · Oct 20, 2020

dreighver said:
Yeah, and they had Chase Claypool at #6 for the 2020 draft and Jefferson at #5. Both of those guys have been tearing it up which disproves the notion that not being #1 in one person's subjective draft rankings makes a player garbage, and that we should hire this guy as our scout.

Being the #6 ranked WR doesn't mean you're bad; it means there are other good WRs in the draft. There is also so much more to player development than college evaluations.

Claypool was ranked #6 among WRs in the 2020 Walter Football draft rankings, though. There's no way he could be any good.

You do realize when I said “we should look at their WR scouts” it’s tongue in cheek right? Lighten up Francis.

Nonentity · Oct 20, 2020

dreighver said:
Yeah, Harry looks ... bad. Really bad.

They need to get the ball in his hands ASAP - end-arounds, reverses, quick screens, designed fades/back-shoulder throws, etc. If he can develop into a more polished receiver remains to be seen, but the guy has some physical tools to be a good player. As others have noted, plenty of other NFL WRs have struggled with quick feet but still were utilized successfully by their coaches.

Beyond coaching/utilization, another clear issue is that the guy just lacks confidence. Setting aside footwork for a moment, if the guy was confident and aggressive that'd help a ton. I don't care about what physical tools you do/don't have: if you're thinking too hard and not playing freely, you're going to struggle, period. I wonder if being smothered by such a good secondary in practice day-after-day has hurt his development.

They need to get him to loosen up and just go out and play without thinking too much. The technique, footwork, etc don't have to be perfect - stop getting him overly focused on that. The guy is 6'3", 220 lbs and athletically gifted - he should be having success. Just tell him to go out there and play.

I completely agree with this. At this stage there's no point clogging up his brain with option plays or forcing him to run precise routes.

Toss up the ball on go/corner/post/deep comeback routes and tell him that if he wants a future in the NFL, he has to beat the corner and go get it.

It's not as if teams are doubling him, he'll be one-vs-one on a smaller corner. If he can't catch them, cut his ass.

Betterthanmost · Oct 20, 2020

Wow, I got hands on tape, Cam was just flat out terrible with this reads. He was not looking at the open guys. Not sure what in the world he was doing with all that height. People we open and he had time to find them but was looking for specific people. It was Cam and not necessary the WRs or TEs. He had options. I guess he was rusty.

NYCPATS4LIFE · Oct 20, 2020

Wow, I got hands on tape, Cam was just flat out terrible with this reads. He was not looking at the open guys. Not sure what in the world he was doing with all that height. People we open and he had time to find them but was looking for specific people. It was Cam and not necessary the WRs or TEs. He had options. I guess he was rusty.

Shows us the tape. So you’re saying the wideouts where open all game? Hmm

203Pat · Oct 20, 2020

NYCPATS4LIFE said:
Wow, I got hands on tape, Cam was just flat out terrible with this reads. He was not looking at the open guys. Not sure what in the world he was doing with all that height. People we open and he had time to find them but was looking for specific people. It was Cam and not necessary the WRs or TEs. He had options. I guess he was rusty.

Shows us the tape. So you’re saying the wideouts where open all game? Hmm

Betterthanmost · Oct 20, 2020

203Pat said:

That is just flat out bad QB play. I now understand BB's comments today.

Betterthanmost · Oct 20, 2020

NYCPATS4LIFE said:
Wow, I got hands on tape, Cam was just flat out terrible with this reads. He was not looking at the open guys. Not sure what in the world he was doing with all that height. People we open and he had time to find them but was looking for specific people. It was Cam and not necessary the WRs or TEs. He had options. I guess he was rusty.

Shows us the tape. So you’re saying the wideouts where open all game? Hmm

I will do my cuts later tonight, but for now, take a look at Chatham's

203Pat · Oct 20, 2020

vuudu said:
That is just flat out bad QB play. I now understand BB's comments today.

Jlaff · Oct 20, 2020

Those last few videos demonstrate why Cam has two TD passes this season.

TomPatriot · Oct 20, 2020

Jlaff said:
Those last few videos demonstrate why Cam has two TD passes this season.

Nah, it’s all N’Keal’s fault.

captain stone · Oct 20, 2020

Mack Herron said:
Despite his lack of production, Harry got 50+ snaps yesterday second to Byrd again but way more than any other WR. So the coaches are seeing something many here do not...

Yeah, they're seeing the other WRs on the roster...

captain stone · Oct 20, 2020

203Pat said:

Wasn't this the play in which our dumbass QB rolled into the back of Eluemunor's legs?

Tony2046 · Oct 20, 2020

This is not a normal season so I'd be careful about applying your typically normal judgemental criteria to any player this season.

My guess is that the Pats will get stronger throughout the season.

Will Harry turn into a #1 drafted value? Probably not but he may become a # 1 redzone threat.

Anyway Covid will wreak havoc on most teams at some time during this season. We've had ours let's see how other teams handle theirs. 11 games to go.

captain stone · Oct 20, 2020

Jlaff said:
Those last few videos demonstrate why Cam has two TD passes this season.

TomPatriot said:
Nah, it’s all N’Keal’s fault.

It's both.

NG Pats Fan · Oct 21, 2020

LOL at people claiming Brady would have "Frozen Out" DK Metcalf. Brady likes good WRs, hates bad WRs. Metcalf is not only a good WR, he has talent to be a GREAT Wr. In training camp, he would have abused smaller DBs, got open, caught the ball, and brady would have loved him. Don't make this into rocket science. NOT ONE Wr that Brady has shunned has gone on to be NFL Quality anywhere else.

Lastly, if you think a Calvin Johnson Clone in DK Metcalf wouldn't fit "our system" then change our system!!!!

N'Keal Harry (lack of) Progress Report

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