Those rooting for Kayshon Boutte to make the Patriots’ 53-man roster saw good signs Friday night when the rookie wide receiver started but barely played in the team’s preseason finale against the Tennessee Titans.
Boutte played a handful of snaps in the first quarter then got to hang out on the sideline with players nearly guaranteed to make the 53-man roster. The 2023 sixth-round pick got out to a slow start with the Patriots during the spring and early part of training camp before impressing as the summer progressed.
“As camp went on, seemed to get stronger and more productive both in practice and games,” head coach Bill Belichick said on a video conference call Saturday morning. “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. We’ll take a look at everything here as we put things together here over the weekend and heading into the regular season, but yeah, Kayshon has had a strong camp.”
The Patriots must trim their 90-man roster down to 53 players by Tuesday at 4 p.m. If the Patriots keep Boutte, that likely means they’ll initially roster six wide receivers with JuJu Smith-Schuster, DeVante Parker, Kendrick Bourne, Demario Douglas and Tyquan Thornton joining him. Thornton is currently injured, so the possibility exists that he could make the initial 53-man roster and then be placed on injured reserve.
Douglas and Boutte both had better summers than Thornton, who might not be guaranteed a roster spot if he wasn’t a 2022 second-round pick. Boutte caught four passes for 56 yards with a touchdown in his first NFL preseason.
He was a playmaker in training camp practices, as well. The LSU product was a five-star recruit coming out of high school. He was once regarded as a first-round talent but fell to the sixth-round due to injuries, off-field concerns and a poor showing at the NFL Scouting Combine.
Early returns suggest the Patriots might have hit on Boutte and Douglas in the same round of the 2023 NFL Draft. Douglas didn’t play Friday night but is dealing with a seemingly minor injury.