Pats Pulpit
Kayshon Boutte entered the Patriots’ offseason program this spring fresh off of hearing his name trade rumors. Fast forward to Week 1 of the NFL season and Boutte is projected to be one of New England’s starting wide receivers.
That progression, according to wide receiver coach Todd Downing, has largely come from Boutte’s work off the field.
“I think he’s really turned the corner in being a professional football player,” Downing said Thursday. “He was a football player that was really talented when I first met him, and I watched him commit to being a professional player. Meaning how he takes care of his body, how he eats, how he studies, how he does all the things that no one sees, that nobody puts on ESPN. He’s really been doing a great job with that stuff.”
Coming off a career season in which he caught 43 passes for 589 yards and three touchdowns, off-field work became a priority for Boutte to build off his season. That began with a strong focus on entering training camp in top physical condition.
“I think my main focus this offseason was coming back in shape,” Boutte said back in August. “I feel like I came back in shape, picked up where I left off at and not getting in shape while we’re going. I think that was my main focus, just coming back ready to roll.”
A strong training camp led to Boutte earning not just a 53-man roster spot, but spending the majority of the summer as the team’s top X-receiver. It’s there he’ll hope to continue to build a connection with sophomore quarterback Drake Maye.
Maye, who connected with Boutte for each of other’s first touchdowns in the quarterback’s first start last, has seen the growth off the field as well.
“Just where we’ve come, I think starting with throwing to [Boutte] in the second group last year. Just building chemistry and just continue to grow and grow. Coming into this year in this camp, they brought it every day, blocking, running routes, knowing spacing, knowing leverage, man coverage, spacing, depth and zone. They’ve done a great job of coming in every day, asking and talking to me,” Maye said of Boutte and fellow wide receiver DeMario Douglas.
“That’s always what I ask for, feedback. ‘Hey, what are you seeing, or ‘Hey, what are you thinking on this, if the corner or the star does this,’ just little things like that. I’m just trying to get as much as I can on the same page with them. I think it’s going to show and show out in practice.”
