The New England Patriots double-dipped at the wide receiver position in the 2023 NFL Draft, but the players they took found themselves on a different trajectory during their rookie seasons. While DeMario Douglas was one of the few positives on an otherwise lackluster offense, Kayshon Boutte failed to make much of an impact in Year 1.
That all changed in his second season: Boutte became a mainstay on offense, and finished as one of the most productive receivers on the team. Does any of this mean something for 2025, though?
Hard facts
Name: Kayshon Boutte
Position: Wide receiver
Jersey number: 9
Opening day age: 23 (5/7/2002)
Measurements: 5’11 1/4”, 197 lbs, 31 3/8” arm length, 9 1/2” hand size, 4.50s 40-yard dash, 7.14s 3-cone drill, 4.25s short shuttle, 29” vertical jump, 9’10” broad jump, 11 bench press reps, 4.99 Relative Athletic Score
Experience
NFL: New England Patriots (2023-) | College: LSU (2020-22)
Boutte was a highly sought-after recruit coming out of Westgate High School in New Iberia, LA. Even though he drew interest from some of the top colleges in the country, he decided to stay close to home and committed to LSU just 50 miles from his hometown.
He immediately burst onto the scene in Baton Rouge and earned Freshman All-SEC honors in his first season with the team. However, Boutte never managed to build on the 45-catch, 735-yard, 5-touchdown season he had in 2020. While he was still productive and ended up starting 21 of his 27 career games as a Tiger, his final stat-line — 131-1781-16 — as well as his overall stint at LSU fell short of initial expectations.
Boutte decided to leave college early, and was selected 187th overall in the sixth round of the 2023 NFL Draft. After the aforementioned quiet rookie season with the Patriots, he showed significant progress in Year 2. As a consequence, his pro résumé includes 45 catches, 608 yards and 3 touchdowns in 20 games.
Scouting report
Strengths: Boutte has a natural talent for catching the football with his hands rather than his body. He shows good concentration and body control, successfully extending his frame to widen his catch radius. He is physical at the catch point and able to outmuscle defensive backs for the ball; his 75 percent success rate in contested catch situations (9 of 12) was the highest among New England’s wide receivers.
He additionally has had some good moments releasing off the line versus press, combining serviceable acceleration and speed with the ability to create separation at the top of his routes. Boutte also has looked competitive as a run blocker and is willing to get his hands dirty or meet contact.
Kayshon Boutte's impact on the #Patriots offense goes beyond catching passes
He was at the point of attack on two Rhamondre Stevenson scores, and he brings some edge to NE's receiving corps as a blocker pic.twitter.com/eyD4CoFOV1
— Taylor Kyles (@tkyles39) October 29, 2024
Weaknesses: Boutte is only an average athlete, lacking any standout traits that would point toward consistent NFL success; he is not a true speedster but also lacks the agility and suddenness in his movements to shake defenders on a down-to-down basis. His route running and feel for coverage are clear areas of improvement; at the moment, there is too much wasted movement, too much inconsistency in his speed, and too little awareness of route manipulation relative to defenders’ alignments.
Boutte also seems to struggle with focus and/or overthinking from time to time. He had a team-leading five drops in 2024, slowed down at the top of his routes at times, and was not on the same page as his quarterbacks on multiple occasions. In general, consistency is a problem.
2024 review
Stats: 15 games (13 starts) | 760 offensive snaps (69.5%), 26 special teams snaps (6.0%) | 67 targets, 43 catches (64.2%), 589 yards, 3 TDs | 5 drops (7.5%), 2 penalties (1 declined)
Season recap: Before making headlines for his on-field play in 2024, Boutte was in the news for all the wrong reasons. In January, an arrest warrant was issued for alleged underage gambling dating back to his time at LSU. The legal case remained active until mid-July, when charges against Boutte were dropped.
At that point, he was preparing for his second training camp as a backup option at wide receiver. He remained buried on the depth chart throughout the summer, even though he saw some extended action following a Tyquan Thornton injury. Still, Boutte projected as only the sixth wide receiver on the depth chart entering the regular season.
After opening the year with back-to-back healthy scratches, his outlook finally started to change. Although he only played 18 snaps and finished with just one 2-yard catch in a Week 3 blowout loss to the New York Jets, that particular Thursday nighter was the starting point for Boutte establishing himself as a factor within the Patriots offense. Two weeks later, he started his first career game and never looked back.
From that point on, he was the Patriots’ No. 1 wide receiver in multiple categories. Between Week 5 and Week 17, no other wideout on the team played more snaps (727; 86.1%), had more receiving yards (576) or scored more touchdowns (3). Only DeMario Douglas (54) registered more catches than Boutte (41) over that same span.
Along the way, he found himself on the receiving end of several big plays as evidenced by his 14.0 yards per reception post-Week 5. Among them was his first career touchdown, which also was Drake Maye’s first career TD pass against the Houston Texans in their first game together.
Kayshon Boutte has six catches in end-of-half situations since Week 5, and he's done a great job finding the ref and handing the ball over each time pic.twitter.com/s2xh2hrCJ5
— Taylor Kyles (@tkyles39) November 10, 2024
For as good as Boutte looked at times — including a 5-95-1 performance against the Buffalo Bills’ starters in Week 16 (he went 7-117-1 against their backups two weeks later) — he also had his fair share of growing pains.
On the year, only 64.2 percent of passes thrown his way were completed. Part of it was his route tree and an average depth of target of 14.5 yards, but he also struggled with drops: Boutte allowed a team-high five passes to go through his fingers for a rate of 7.5 percent per target. Furthermore, he seemed unaware of his position on the field at times or did not follow through with his routes entirely, while his chemistry with Drake Maye was also hit and miss.
Despite those issues, however, his sophomore campaign as a whole was a definitive step in the right direction.
2025 preview
Position: Rotational X/Z-WR | Ability: Depth player/Role player | Contract: Signed through 2026
What will be his role? Boutte was a starter and there-down performer for the Patriots down the stretch in 2024, but it seems unlikely he will see the same extensive action under a new coaching staff in 2025. More realistically, his role will become more rotational: he will compete with Kyle Williams and Mack Hollins for snaps at the X, and very well could end up earning some starts at the position, and also might factor into the mix at the Z-receiver spot.
What is his growth potential? The aforementioned lack of standout athletic traits means that Boutte needs to find different ways to put himself in favorable positions versus defenders. So far in his career, however, he has only shown marginal development from a technical perspective. In order to do so, the 23-year-old needs to improve his route running/tree, and show a better understanding of what defenses might throw at him and the offense. He also has to find ways to build a more consistent connection with Drake Maye after catching only 56 percent of targets from the young QB.
Does he have positional versatility? Boutte’s versatility is limited at the moment, partially due to his skillset and partially because of his route tree. Right now, he is an outside option only who showed his most promise running slants and go routes and working his way back toward the ball on curls and hitches. He did play 26 special teams snaps as part of the Patriots’ kickoff return team, but did not see the field in the game’s third phase from Week 8 on.
What is his salary cap situation? Entering the third year of his rookie contract, Boutte is counting $1.077 million against New England’s cap — the 45th-highest cap hit on the team at the moment. That number is broken down in a pretty straight-forward fashion: it consists of a non-guaranteed $1.03 million salary and a fully-guaranteed $46,816 signing bonus proration.
How safe is his roster spot? Boutte is seemingly facing a wide variety of potential outcomes: he could find himself competing for starter reps at the X-receiver spot again, or be off the team entirely come September. What this shows is that a) the competition projects to be more intense this year, and b) Boutte has ways to go before becoming a reliable weapon. At the moment, he therefore can be classified as a roster bubble player.
Summary: Boutte provided several positive plays for an underwhelming Patriots offense in 2024, but that alone means little heading into 2025. Even though he appears to be trending up, he needs to be able to build off of those successful moments he had in order to earn his spot on the team.
What do you think about Kayshon Boutte heading into the 2025 season? Please head down to the comment section to share your thoughts.