All the clichés about stacking plays and stacking days, New England Patriots wide receiver Kayshon Boutte clearly has studied the Mike Vrabel doctrine.
The fourth-year receiver heads into a contract year – a pivotal contract year – in 2026, and he’s come to play, at least one walk-through into training camp.
But the bottom line might just be as simple as the team’s opinion of Boutte is nowhere near Boutte’s opinion of himself. And now they have to decide whether to move on from the LSU product or not.
Killing it so far at camp
After another sharp performance on Thursday, Boutte pulled no punches in his media scrum.
“I think my attitude … We all hear a lot of the stuff that’s going on. My main focus is I’m here till (I’m not),” said Boutte. “It’s part of the business, taking every day … day by day.
“Regardless of where I’m at, I still have to prove it. You hear the talk online, every year I’ve been proving it. It feels like everybody says a lot of stuff, and then it backfires in the end. Kind of the story of my life.”
Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images
Will the Patriots move him?
Boutte was asked if he thought he was on the trading block and responded, “I don’t know. I think that might be a (Vrabel) question.”
While his off-field issues and doubts are driving him or if he’s just blocking them out, Boutte is performing at a level that is forcing the team’s hand.
“I’ve been playing football since I was 7, same (stuff) I’ve been doing,” he said. “(Kyle Williams and I) were talking yesterday, and I was like, ‘don’t worry what the next guy is doing. Everybody is going to make plays. Don’t let that affect your opportunities. At the end of the day, you’re going to get your opportunities.’”
Waiting for a healthy payday
Having earned just under $3 million so far as a pro and set to make just under $4 million more this year – if he makes the club – Boutte certainly understands the importance of this year, either in New England or elsewhere, with free agency dead ahead.
“Truth be told, if you were in a contract year at your reporting job, you want that to be your best year,” he said. “Whatever that looks like for me, we’ll look at all the options and see what the best position is.
“It’s a lot of chatter, whether it’s on line or in person. When we step in the building, I try not to let the noise distract me.”
