Kayshon Boutte sure seems like someone who’ll get good news on Tuesday.
The rookie receiver consistently improved over the last few weeks, standing out both on the practice field and in the Patriots’ preseason game against the Green Bay Packers. Boutte, a sixth-round pick, arrived in New England with depressed expectations after a rough end to his career at LSU, but he’s made a strong case for earning a spot on the initial 53-man roster.
And there were more positive signs Friday night, when the 21-year-old played just three snaps in the Patriots’ preseason loss to the Titans in Tennessee. The light workload could be viewed as a sign Boutte still will have a job when New England announces its roster Tuesday afternoon.
Most importantly, Boutte has impressed his head coach.
“As camp went on, seemed to get stronger and more productive both in practice and games,” Bill Belichick said during a Saturday morning video call. “Really in all the areas that he worked into, so that was very encouraging. He showed an explosive ability on the field when he played. So he’s had a good camp.”
Belichick obviously won’t reveal roster decisions before he has to, but he might’ve tipped his hand toward the end of his answer.
“We’ll take a look at everything here as we put things together here over the weekend and heading into the regular season,” Belichick said. “But yeah, Kayshon has had a strong camp.”
How the Patriots construct their receiver room will be one of the top storylines to monitor as cutdown day nears.
New England typically carries just five receivers, and DeVante Parker, Kendrick Bourne, JuJu Smith-Schuster and Demario Douglas are roster locks. So is second-year wideout Tyquan Thornton, despite what some want to believe.
Thornton’s lingering shoulder injury could make the math easier for Boutte. However, if Thornton is healthy in time for Week 1, New England likely will need to roster six receivers if it wants to keep Boutte, who still lacks explosion and is more solid than spectacular.
For what it’s worth, we have the Patriots doing just that in our latest 53-man roster projection.
