Some eyebrows were raised when one of N'Keal Harry's trainers, footwork specialist Rischad Whitfield, was quoted in a Patriots Wire story suggesting some of the blame for Harry's struggles should go back to quarterback Cam Newton.
The article quoted Whitfield as saying, "We’ve got a new quarterback. We’ve got to put some of that (expletive) on Cam. Cam hasn’t been the most accurate this year. Like if (N’Keal) had Tom Brady, Tom Brady would’ve fed him. But we’re back there with Cam and Cam’s getting acclimated to the offense, too.”
Whitfeld immediately took to Twitter Wednesday saying that his comments were misrepresented. Later in the day, the trainer joined Mike Mutnansky and Andy Hart on Mut at Night to further clarify his message.
"The thing about me is I would never put the blame or lack of productivity on somebody else," he said. "I would never do that. That is not who I am. I am not wired that way. He took a lot of stuff I said and misquoted it big-time. I wish he would tell you all the questions he would ask me. It was weird because I figured this dude was picking at something. It was really weird. But, you know what, the kid played with Tom Brady last year and he's playing with Cam Newton this year. There was no install this offseason. N'Keal went straight from offseason training to training camp down in New England so there wasn't much time for him and Cam to build chemistry. That's all I said.
"As far as mechanics, I don't work any kind of mechanics. I work footwork mechanics. But I would not work mechanics. ... I would never put the blame on anybody. He misquoted a lot that stuff. Just the title of the article: 'N'Keal Harry's friend blames Cam Newton.' I would never do that, never blame that. You can only control what he can control. The one thing I needed N'Keal to do is get better from last year to this year. He showed this year he can get separation. That was the No. 1 key. After that, everything is on whatever scheme they are running, whatever they have going on out there. Whatever route he's running. But my main objection is to make sure N'Keal gets separation this year and he did exactly that."
When asked to definitively say whether or not Newton an issue when it came to Harry's development, Whitfield was adamant that the quarterback was not to blame.
"Not at all," Whitfield said. "If you look at it it's a down year for a lot of athletes and NFL players just because there wasn't any kind of OTAs, no installs at all. Think about it, these guys didn't get a lot of time at all to work with each other. Cam and N'Keal worked at UCLA for a couple of days. Worked on routes on air. There wasn't any kind of install which usually they have four or six weeks of that. Cam Newton has nothing at all to do with N'Keal's productivity. N'Keal takes advantage of any opportunity he gets when the ball is thrown to him. That's all I can ask of any athlete I work with. I worry about the guys I work with. But I never blame anybody else for a lack of productivity. If you ask me, Cam and N'Keal did pretty good this year. Like I said, new offense. They are both brand new working with one another. Cam played with a lot of speed receivers like D.J. Moore and Curtis Samuel up at Carolina. He never had a big receiver. They've got to no each other, that's it. There was no pointing fingers at Cam Newton at all. ... I would not disrespect anybody like that. I would just not do that all."
The second-year receiver has 29 catches for 277 yards and two touchdowns in 2020.
"His confidence got better, and better, and better each and every game," Whitfield said of Harry. He added, "When we work this offseason the No. 1 one thing I'm telling N'Keal, 'This offseason, N'Keal, you need to play angry. Play angry, like a Dez Bryant. Angry. If the football is thrown to you, attack it. When you're running your routes attack the defender. If somebody wants to talk to you, attack them. Run through them. Play that game with that kind of emotion.' Because that's what is going to set him apart because he has all the gifts, he has all the skills. It's just that part there. And he's definitely going to do that."
