Heading into his second NFL season, Patriots wide receiver N’Keal Harry is hoping to prove he’s a truly quick learner.
The first-round pick arrived in New England last offseason with a big body and big expectations, but after spending half the year on IR his rookie season was a pretty big disappointment.
In seven games played a year ago with five starts, Harry finished with a mere 12 catches for 105 yards, though he did find the end zone twice.
One obvious deficit in Harry’s game as he navigated the transition from college to NFL that has overwhelmed many a receiver, was his lack of quickness. So Harry targeted his footwork and quickness during this long, strange NFL offseason.
“I went into this offseason just attacking and just trying to improve all facets of my game. That was one of them that I thought I had to improve on. That was one I focused on a lot,” Harry said of work that included sessions with trainer Rischad Whitfield, the so-called Footwork King. “He helps guys get lighter on their feet. That’s something that helped me out. I noticed right away.”
One thing that the limited number of reporters in attendance this summer at Patriots camp certainly noticed is that Harry also changed his body a bit this offseason, something the receiver confirmed in a recent post-practice video call with the media.
“I just felt like I was a little bit big. I just felt like slimming down a little bit and being a little more thin would help me getting off the top of my routes, getting in and out of my breaks and my releases,” Harry explained of alterations to his lifting and nutrition plans.
Bill Belichick often explains that many players make their biggest improvements between their first and second NFL seasons – the Year 2 Jump – and that’s a trend that Harry hopes to live in his own career. With a trying first year to learn from and a calculated offseason approach under his belt, Harry is ready to prove his value for a New England receiving corps that has more questions than answers beyond incumbent slot star Julian Edelman.
“I learned that in the NFL, you have to prove yourself day in and day out,” Harry said of last fall. “This is a league where nothing is given to you. You earn everything day by day. That’s my approach coming into this season and that’s my approach stepping on to the field every day.
“There’s a lot of things about this offense that would be hard to pick up at first, a lot of little details that a lot of guys don’t have to pay attention to in college. This second year has helped me a lot. The offseason, just getting to study some things and knowing the offense a lot more. So I came back, felt very comfortable with it, and it helped me a lot being a second-year guy.”
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