Kristian Wilkerson’s performance vs Jags shows Patriots need to end N’Keal Harry era

On Sunday in a get-right game against the Jacksonville Jaguars, the New England Patriots decided to take on the assignment without wide receiver N’Keal Harry, who was a healthy scratch.

Why? Well, when you’re playing a team as bad as Jacksonville, you might as well experiment. And a good game from Harry would’ve hardly proven anything. He’s now been in the NFL for three years and doesn’t have a single impressive performance to show for it.

In fact, across 32 career games, Harry has just 57 receptions for 598 yards and four touchdowns. He couldn’t establish a rapport with Tom Brady, Cam Newton or Mac Jones while a number of other receivers and pass catchers have managed to figure it out.

In his place, second-year wideout Kristian Wilkerson received reps, and had himself a day. He scored his first two career touchdowns on four catches for 42 yards. He nearly had his third if not for a bang-bang play on a deep pass from Mac Jones early in the fourth quarter.

Kristian Wilkerson’s performance in the Patriots’ win made N’Keal Harry expendable.

Care to know the last time N’Keal Harry had a two-touchdown game? Back in 2018 at Arizona State. His skills couldn’t have translated worse to the Patriots’ offense.

Wilkerson, who stands at 6-foot-1 and 215 pounds, clearly showed the ability to get separation, something Harry’s failed to do since being selected in the first round three years ago (despite his imposing 6-foot-4, 225-pound frame). This was Wilkerson’s fourth career game and first playing in more than 6% of the offensive snaps.

It obviously came against a bad and decimated Jaguars side, but has Harry ever imposed his will against inferior opponents? He’s certainly had the chance against teams like Texans, Jets and Falcons this year in addition to many others in 2019 and 2020.

Wilkerson went undrafted back in 2020 and signed with the Tennessee Titans out of Southeast Missouri State. He was let loose during the final round of roster cuts and landed with the Patriots that September. He’s recently impressed in practice, and it’s clear Bill Belichick wanted to see what he was capable of, and Harry, arguably the team’s worst receiver, was the casualty since he has only 12 catches on the year and had a crucial drop last week against the Buffalo Bills.

It says even more that Harry was a healthy scratch since Nelson Agholor was out with an injury. Then he watched his supposed replacement record the second-most receiving yards on the team.

We’re not sure how much more evidence is needed to end the Harry era. New pass catchers have come in and found a valuable role in the offense while Harry has continue to falter, over and over again. There’s not much more evaluating to be done.

Wilkerson’s showing on Sunday should put the final nail in the coffin.

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