NFL teams will have to make cuts sooner rather than later, including the [New England Patriots](https://nesn.com/new-england-patriots).
As the Patriots and other teams make those decisions, it could directly affect what New England wants to do with Kayshon Boutte.
Boutte has impressed throughout his career and is far from a bad player, but he might not have a great spot on this team right now.
There's reason to believe he can be a very good player elsewhere if given the opportunity, but the Patriots might not have room to give him that role. With cuts coming up, other teams may also not want to trade for Boutte now, hoping to cut players they want and land them for a much lower price.
It's either that, or New England could have to give him up for a worse package than it initially wanted.
“Combine that with the idea that Boutte might be frustrated with his limited projected playing time while entering a contract year, and it’s not difficult to see why a trade might make sense. But the closer we get to cutdown day, the more incentivized other teams might be to wait it out and see which receivers they can get off the waiver wire.
“So either the Patriots keep Boutte in what looks like a diminished role, or they might have to give him up for a lesser return,” Chad Graff [wrote](https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7514112/2026/08/17/patriots-training-camp-caleb-lomu-kyle-williams/).
It's almost impossible to tell what the Patriots are trying to do with Boutte.
There are times when it feels like they want to keep him around and he'll have a real chance to be a WR2 or WR3 for this organization, but they also played him in a preseason game last week against the Indianapolis Colts with a bunch of backups.
More Patriots
-------------