The Vikings Sign Another WR Ahead of 1st Preseason Game
The Minnesota Vikings made a flurry of roster moves this past week, shaking up their roster for the rest of training camp.
However, the team apparently is not done making changes to the roster. On Sunday afternoon, a report surfaced that the Vikings would sign another WR to their roster.
That WR is N’Keal Harry, a former first-round pick by the New England Patriots. The Vikings tweeted on Sunday, “The #Vikings have signed WR N’Keal Harry (@NkealHarry15) and placed DL James Lynch on IR.”
Harry, New England’s first-round selection in the 2019 NFL Draft, has not lived up to that draft status to this point in his NFL career. During his rookie season of 2019, the receiver caught just 12 passes for 105 yards and 2 TDs.
2020 proved to be Harry’s best season to this point in his four-year NFL career. He recorded career-highs across the board, catching 33 passes for 309 yards, and 2 more TDs.
However, after another disappointing season in 2021, during which Harry recorded 12 catches for 184 yards, the Patriots decided to trade him to the Chicago Bears prior to the 2022 season. Unfortunately, the receiver would get hurt during training camp and land on IR on September 1st.
The Bears were able to activate him in October, and Harry went on to play seven games for Chicago, catching 7 passes for 106 yards and a touchdown. His first game with the Bears actually came against the Patriots, and he caught a 14-yard pass in Chicago’s 33-14 victory.
Now, Harry heads to Minnesota where he joins a very deep wide receiver room that houses Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison, K.J. Osborn, Jalen Reagor, Jalen Nailor, Brandon Powell, Blake Proehl, Trishton Jackson, Cephus Johnson, Thayer Thomas, Lucky Jackson, and Garrett Maag.
This isn’t the first time that Kwesi Adofo-Mensah has made a move to try and improve the WR room during a training camp. Last year, the Vikings GM decided to swing a trade that brought in Jalen Reagor from the Philadelphia Eagles.
However, the interesting part of this signing is that Harry likely won’t be used to improve the special teams. While fringe-roster candidates like Powell and Reagor have a history of being contributors to the special teams, Harry has just one punt return to his name during his career. It went for exactly zero yards.
That being said, if we look back to Harry’s collegiate career at Arizona State, Harry recorded 14 punt returns during his three seasons playing there. Those 14 punt returns went for a total of 165 yards (11.8 yards per return), and he recorded a punt return TD during the 2018 season.
Regardless, in order for Harry to secure a spot on the Vikings roster this year, it likely will have to come as a result of production on the offensive side of the ball. With the Vikings first preseason game against the Seattle Seahawks coming on Thursday, we could get to see what Minnesota has planned for their new wide receiver very soon.
Josh Frey is a Class of 2020 graduate of The College of Idaho and managing editor of PurplePTSD.com. When he’s not writing about the NFL, Josh enjoys running, gaming, or rooting for the Milwaukee Brewers and Bucks. Check out his Twitter account: @Freyed_Chicken.