New England Patriots: 3 Early breakout candidates on offense in 2020
2. N’Keal Harry
There is no question that the wide receiver position needs some improvement in Foxborough during the 2020 season.
After opening up the 2019 year with an impressive receiving group consisting of wide receivers such as Julian Edelman, Antonio Brown, Josh Gordon and Phillip Dorsett, among others, that group quickly diminished after injury issues took place and other players departed the team in the early portions of the season.
That basically left Edelman and Dorsett as the two main options for Tom Brady in the passing game, while New England was in the search for another player to step up alongside them.
One player that appeared the scene a bit for the Patriots during the course of the regular season was rookie wide receiver N’Keal Harry, who ended up being an interesting inclusion in the passing game. The 22-year-old Harry put together an average rookie campaign last year after he was drafted by New England in the first round of the 2019 NFL Draft out of Arizona State.
With injury issues consuming the wide receiver group a year ago, that allowed Harry to get some playing time early on in his professional career. Although he played in about half of the regular season contests for New England, be proved to Bill Belichick and company that he could be a nice piece moving forward.
In 2019, the young wideout managed to finish with 12 catches on 24 total targets, along with recording 105 receiving yards and two touchdowns. Harry also ran the ball five times for a total of 49 yards on the ground.
This season, Harry will likely once again be in the running as a top option behind Edelman in the receiving group on offense, which will be led by a new quarterback in 2020. That means he could see even more playing time and an increase in production throughout the 16-game regular season, given the fact that he can remain healthy and on the field for New England.
Harry, Edelman and Mohamed Sanu, among others, will be the group the Patriots will rely on in the passing game this season, and Harry could see a nice uptick in production while going through a breakout year in his second professional season.