Schefter: N'Keal Harry's Public Trade Request Was Not 'The Wisest Move'
BOSTON (CBS) -- The Patriots have a certain way of doing business. Publicly demanding a trade via boastful statements from an agent is not part of that process.
Nevertheless, receiver N'Keal Harry opted for that second route, with his agent releasing a statement last week which said Harry had not been utilized properly in New England and thus must be traded to a new team.
Adam Schefter, speaking on his podcast this week, said that Harry chose the wrong path if that is indeed the avenue he'd like to travel.
Here's what Schefter said:
Now, again, this, I don't know was the wisest move that N'Keal Harry could have made. If he wants a trade, it would be very simple for him to go into the office of head coach Bill Belichick and privately tell him that he thinks it's in the best interest of everybody to move on.
But he did it publicly. And my guess would be that if you want out of New England, the way to do that would not be through the media, that if you're going to do it that way, you hurt your chances and put a bull's-eye on yourself for the summer.
And so I don't think N'Keal Harry is going to get traded any time soon. I do think he has basically invited more attention and scrutiny on himself. But I don't think he's done anything to further his cause of wanting out of New England.
Now I love a trade story as much as anybody, and if a player wants out, and they want to tell me about that, I'm always here and I'm always open to reporting it.
But the truth of the matter is, it's usually better for the player to handle those issues privately with his organization, which is not what N'Keal Harry opted to do here. And now we'll wait to see how that shakes out. I'm going to bet that the Patriots aren't going to let anybody tell them what they are or aren't going to do -- that the Patriots are going to do exactly what they want to do.
Harry was the highest pick ever for a wide receiver in New England during Belichick's long tenure running the team, when the Patriots drafted him with the 32nd overall pick in 2019. He played in just seven games as a rookie, catching 12 passes for 105 yards and two touchdowns. Last year, he played in 14 games and caught 33 passes for 309 yards and two touchdowns. He also has seven rushes for 49 yards. He caught two passes for 21 yards in his lone playoff game.
Harry's agent, Jamal Tooson, said last week that Harry was "a dominant downfield threat who was virtually unstoppable at the point of attack in college" and that the receiver needs a new team in order to "thrive" in the NFL. Since then, a report has indicated that despite the trade request, Harry plans on attending training camp when it opens in Foxboro later this month.