Report: Patriots Silently Committed To N’Keal Harry This Offseason

The New England Patriots picked Jarrett Stidham in the fourth-round of the 2019 NFL Draft. He raised many more questions than the first-round pick the Patriots had in N’Keal Harry. Stidham is the only quarterback head coach Bill Belichick has other than Brian Hoyer. New England made a similar silent declaration about Harry.

The Patriots didn’t do anything to stop Phillip Dorsett walk in free agency. The organization has only signed Damiere Byrd, Marqise Lee and four undrafted free agents at wide receiver. Everything points to the fact that Harry will take a starting position next season.

The Patriots like N’Keal Harry

New England’s head coach wasn’t really silent about committing to N’Keal after the 2020 NFL Draft. When asked about his decision not to select a wideout in a really good class, Belichick mentioned N’Keal.

“We’ll see how all that goes,” Belichick said. “I’m sure all our young players will improve in year two. Got a first-round pick on N’Keal last year, second-round pick on (Mohamed) Sanu. That was really off this draft. Obviously have Julian (Edelman) and a number of other young players. I think that will be a very good group. There’s a lot of different ways and times to build your team. The draft is one of them. As I mentioned, whether it’s Sanu or free agents signing like (Damiere) Byrd, whatever the case might be, there’s multiple ways to build your roster, and this is one of them.”

Here’s what the Patriots have at wideout:

Julian Edelman, Mohamed Sanu, N’Keal Harry, Jakobi Meyers, Damiere Byrd, Marqise Lee, Gunner Olszewski, Quincy Adeboyejo, Devin Ross, Will Hastings, Jeff Thomas, Isaiah Zuber, and Sean Riley are on this position now.

New England had limited salary cap space this offseason. However, they could have found a solution to the issue. They could easily add a talented wide receiver, but they didn’t add any.

The Patriots had five selections on the first two days of the draft. Bill Belichick skipped every available wide receiver. New England could have had Brandon Aiyuk, Tee Higgins, Michael Pittman Jr., Laviska Shenault, K.J. Hamler, Chase Claypool, Van Jefferson, Denzel Mims or Bryan Edwards.