N’Keal Harry: Will 2020 Be His Breakout Season?
So how bout N’Keal Harry? That’s a name we don’t hear much about these days. He came in as a highly touted prospect and the easy WR1 in the 2019 class. But a poor rookie season has made him a complete afterthought on fantasy draft day. He has an ADP in the 15th round on FFPC. But he’s a second year wideout and we see second year receivers breakout all the time. See DJ Chark last year. He did absolutely nothing as a rookie and then burst onto the scene as a sophomore And Harry was a far better prospect coming out than Chark.
Harry had good reason to not breakout in year one. No greater than he began his rookie season on the physically unable to perform list with an ankle injury. So after missing the first half of the season and trying to work his way back into a complicated new england offense, with a quarterback in Tom Brady who really needs to build chemistry and trust with his guys, it’s really no surprise Harry struggled to do much. He saw just 24 targets in his seven games played. And he only saw double digit fantasy points once—which came in Week 15 when he finished as the WR38.
But it became clear at times the team was trying to manufacture touches for their big receiver with screens and handoffs on end arounds. With those, he flashed some of that run-after-catch monster ability that we saw from him at Arizona State. As a prospect, Harry checked all the boxes. Which is why we have to still like him coming into year two and know there’s a chance for a Chark-like breakout.
Harry posted elite college production from day one as demonstrated by an 18.7 (95th-percentile), Breakout Age as true freshman when he held 22-percent of the team’s receptions, 21-percent of the team’s receiving yards, and 31-percent of the receiving touchdowns. He finished his Sun Devils career with 213 receptions in three seasons for nearly 3,000 receiving yards. He departed with a 43.9-percent (88th-percentile) College Dominator and 14.9 (55th-percentile) yards-per-reception. Harry also possesses some freakish athleticism for being 6-2, 228-pounds with a 109.8 Speed Score, which lands in the 90-percentile and a Burst Score in the 78th-percentile. His SPARQ-X score is in the 98th-percentile
See Where Breakout Season Candidate N’Keal Harry Lands In Our 2020 Rankings!
So he’s got great size-adjusted speed and explosiveness with prototypical WR1 size. We have to like this guy. He’s locked-in as the second receiver behind Julian Edelman on a thin Patriots WR depth chart. He now has a quarterback in Cam Newton who has shown willingness in his career to throw to these big outside wide receivers who don’t make the bacon as a great separator and doesn’t need the level of trust in a guy that Brady always seemed to need. The Patriots will continue to look for new ways to get this guy the ball. He’s a beast with the ball in his hands, it’s his greatest strength. The Sun Devils thought so too. Harry had 23 career rush attempts for 144 yards and three touchdowns, and returned a punt for a score in 2018. He is versatile and a proven playmaker.
We need to wake up and remember this guy was an elite college prospect who fell victim to injuries as a rookie. He’s healthy and ready to take that year-two jump. And he’s basically free to draft.
SEASONAL RANKINGS |TOP-300|
DYNASTY RANKINGS | QB | RB | WR | TE | 1QB ROOKIES | SF ROOKIES
