Getty N'Keal Harry
The Minnesota Vikings have added another pass catcher to quarterback Kirk Cousins‘ already impressive arsenal of weapons.
The Vikings signed wide receiver N’Keal Harry on August 6. Field Yates of ESPN reported the news via Twitter on Sunday afternoon.
The Vikings have signed WR N’Keal Harry.
“The Vikings have signed WR N’Keal Harry,” Yates wrote.
Harry joins a receiver room in Minnesota led by All-Pro Justin Jefferson, first-round rookie Jordan Addison and K.J. Osborn.
N’Keal Harry Has Been a Bust Since Joining NFL 4 Years Ago
GettyFormer New England Patriots first-round pick N’Keal Harry joined the Minnesota Vikings in August 2023.
Harry was a first-round selection himself, chosen by the New England Patriots with the 32nd overall pick in the 2019 NFL Draft.
The 6’4″, 225-pound wideout looked every bit the part of a potential No. 1 wideout coming out of Arizona State, but his career never panned out with the Patriots. Harry played three seasons in New England, catching just 57 passes for 598 yards and four touchdowns across 33 games played over that span, per Pro Football Reference.
New England traded Harry to the Chicago Bears last year for a 2024 seventh-round pick. While there, the wideout played in seven contests, made seven catches for 116 yards and scored one touchdown.
The contract details on Harry’s deal with the Vikings were not immediately released. He played out the final season of his four-year, $10 million rookie deal with the Bears in 2022. As a former first-round selection, the Patriots had the option last offseason to extend Harry for a fifth year at the price of $12.4 million, which the team declined before trading him.
N’Keal Harry Will Battle With Vikings Backups for Spot on 53-Man Roster
GettyFormer Chicago Bears wide receiver N’Keal Harry is the newest member of the Minnesota Vikings.
That Harry will make the Vikings’ final 53-man roster come the end of August is far from a given.
He will compete with the likes of Jalen Nailor, Brandon Powell and another underachieving first-round pick in Jalen Reagor for second-string duties in Minnesota. Blake Proehl and Trishton Jackson were also on the roster as of Monday, per ESPN, though Jackson was hurt in practice on August 1 and left the field on a cart.
Harry may have a solid chance to usurp Reagor, after the Vikings acquired him from the Philadelphia Eagles for late-round draft compensation last offseason. Reagor, who was famously selected by the Eagles one pick ahead of Jefferson in 2020, caught just eight passes for 104 yards and one score in Minnesota last season.
Reagor returned 26 punts for the Vikings last year, though he fumbled four times, which makes his position with the team that much more precarious going forward. One NFL insider predicted Minnesota will part ways Reagor at some point this summer after picking up Powell, who has a history as a return man in the NFL and a history with head coach Kevin O’Connell from their days together with the Los Angeles Rams.
“I think Powell has done enough as a receiver to be a depth guy who can be a returner-receiver,” Mike Clay of ESPN told the Purple Insider podcast on June 19. “Reagor, certainly his scholarship is over — no idea if he even makes the team.”