Patriots wide receiver N’Keal Harry wants out of New England. NFL Media’s Mike Garafolo on Tuesday reported Harry officially requested a trade from the team that made him the No. 32 pick in the 2019 NFL draft. The 49ers probably won’t be among the teams kicking tires on the former Arizona State star.
San Francisco could be in the market for an upgrade at wide receiver depending on how their roster at the position looks in camp. They have a slew of options to work in as the No. 3 receiver behind Brandon Aiyuk, another former ASU standout, and Deebo Samuel, who went four picks after Harry in the 2019 draft.
There’s no guarantee one of those options will emerge as a viable No. 3 receiving threat on a club with Super Bowl aspirations, but Harry’s career to this point hasn’t offered a ton of reasons to believe he’s a budding star at his position.
Harry put together a stellar career with the Sun Devils, hauling in 213 balls for 2,889 yards and 22 touchdowns in 37 games. At 6-4, 220 pounds – he affected games at every level in college and brought plenty of size to be a bonafide No. 1 receiver in the NFL.
His pro career hasn’t gone to plan though. Harry in 21 games has 45 catches for 415 yards and four touchdowns, and his 5.11 yards per target ranks last among the 22 receiver drafted in 2019 that have at least one reception. His receptions are No. 12 on that list. His yardage ranks 14th and his 9.2 yards per reception are 21st.
The 49ers already passed on the opportunity to chase Julio Jones on the trade market because they didn’t want to further jeopardize their future drafts which are already thin after trading up for QB Trey Lance in this year’s draft.
“You’ve got to build a team and it’s not just year to year, you’ve got to build it for the future. And, you know, you just think about how hard it is going into drafts,” Shanahan told reporters in early June. “You know, you never know what you’re going to be able to do in free agency, who you’re going to lose, who you’re going to be able to bring in. You’ve got lots of guys on one-year contracts, things like that. Everyone knows we don’t have a first-round pick. But what happens when you don’t have a second-round pick and a fourth-round pick and you lose the number of guys in free agency, which you never can for sure count on. And then you end up going into a draft and you’ve got to get six new spots, but all you have is a third and a fifth-round pick. It’s kind of tough to build your team that way and to consistently do it.”
Harry, even at the low cost of a late-round pick, hasn’t done enough to warrant attention from the 49ers. Shanahan hasn’t been enamored with big, athletic receivers with upside, favoring instead the ability to consistently separate and affect games from multiple spots.
The college version of Harry could do that, but his game hasn’t translated to the pros. Perhaps there’s still a Pro Bowl caliber player there. Harry is immensely talented, but the 49ers aren’t in a position to take on a project. They’d need a player who could help them right away if they’re handing out another draft pick.
If the market is limited and Harry can be had for a late-round pick swap or a future sixth or seventh-round pick, then maybe the 49ers get involved. Barring that specific situation though, Harry won’t likely be the player San Francisco aims for if they do want to upgrade their receiving corps.
