The first real sorting of the muddled New England Patriots wide receiver room took place this week with the Indianapolis Colts in town, first for a joint practice on Tuesday morning and then for Thursday night's exhibition game, a 13-13 stalemate.
Head coach Mike Vrabel didn't really approach the subject in the postgame, other than talking about one ball that Mack Hollins should have caught and how second-year man Kyle Williams continues to come along.
But there is good news and bad news to go around in that top seven group of receivers, heading into the day off Friday.
Sorting out the news
Let's take a look at how the first shuffle looks.
A.J. Brown, Romeo Doubs and DeMario Douglas all played extensively with the first team on Tuesday, then did not dress for action on Thursday.
The only way to interpret that is that Douglas is now a clear No. 3 in the group, meaning the battle for the rest of the openings on the 53-man roster is no longer five players for four spots. It's four for three.
Vrabel splits receivers in pairs
Those four – Mack Hollins, Kayshon Boutte, Efton Chism and the aforementioned Williams – all saw extensive action on Thursday in the first half with backup QB Tommy DeVito running the show.
Mandatory Credit: Eric Canha-Imagn Images
To be certain, that is not a good sign for any of them, who must know now that they are playing for their jobs in the last two-plus weeks of camp.
As Vrabel said about this week: "(It's) great evaluation. You start to figure out the guys who can and the guys who can't too."
Boutte doesn't see the football
The one real puzzler was Boutte, who did not get targeted once. He started and played in packages with Hollins, who had two catches for 24 yards on four targets. When they subbed out, Chism (3 catches on 3 targets, 20 yards) and Williams (2 catches on 3 targets, 37 yards, 1 TD) came in.
This night should set off alarms for the Boutte backers.
Battle lines are now drawn
Chism summed up the situation best post-game on the competition and how it weighs on them.
"I mean I think, just in my opinion, don't make it bigger than it is, right? It's just football, keep playing football," he said. "You know, try not to focus on all the outside noise, and just kind of show up to work, and kind of grind, and hopefully it works out."
The night also distanced the rest of the pack from the top seven. Kobe Prentice (3 catches, 40 yards), Cam Dorner (1 catch, 18 yards) and Tejhaun Palmer (1 catch, 15 yards) all made plays in the second half, but the drop-off there is substantial.
