On Wednesday, the Patriots held their seventh practice of the training camp season at Gillette Stadium, just one week away from the Washington Commanders coming to town for a joint practice ahead of their first preseason game on August 8.
As the coaching staff continues to figure out who will play where as they install a new offense under old-but-new offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels, we may have gotten a sneak peak into which way they’re leaning at receiver after a few days in full pads.
On two separate occasions during Wednesday’s practice, Kayshon Boutte was lined up as the team’s No. 2 wide receiver with the first team offense.
“Today really showed me something from the coaching staff,” said WEEI’s Jon Lyons on Wednesday’s 6 Rings podcast. “The Patriots went 12-personnel in warm-ups and also during 11-on-11 drills. For those who don’t know, 12-personnel [is] one running back, two tight ends, two receivers. Traditionally, what teams do when they go 12-personnel is the two receivers are just the two guys that they think are the best players. And one grouping was Boutte and Stefon Diggs, another grouping was Boutte and Kyle Williams.
“I thought it was really notable that both of those groupings had Kayshon Boutte, because what that tells me is that Mike Vrabel and Josh McDaniels look at Kayshon Boutte as one of their top two receivers. Obviously, they look at Diggs as the guy, right? The All-Pro guy. But to have Boutte not only as your starting receiver in 11-personnel, but then when you go 12-personnel - to have him starting and involved in multiple groups, that tells me that they think he's one of the top two receivers on the team, and they're expecting big production out of them this year.”
I have both written and said that I believe Boutte deserves a spot on the 2025 Patriots, both for the flashes we saw from him last season and the production we’ve seen from him early in camp. And with this observation coming from Lyons on Wednesday, it appears the Patriots’ coaching staff agrees.
For the record, Lyons is a former college football coach who spent eight seasons in various roles on the coaching staff at Bridgewater State. His recognition of this personnel grouping at this point in training camp - to me, at least - carries weight.
With practice rules and regulations changing so much over the past decade, every single rep this time of year counts. Boutte getting these types of reps with that group of players matters.
Boutte was among the best receivers on the Patriots in 2024, grabbing 43 balls for 589 yards and 3 touchdowns.
Those types of numbers obviously aren’t getting you into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, but that jump in production is notable given how little we saw him do on the football field during his rookie year in 2023.
Amidst the sea of mediocrity that was the wide receiver room last season, Boutte was a bright-ish spot that showed the potential for chemistry with Drake Maye.
Now heading into year three, we could see Boutte be put in a position to thrive even further with the likes of Diggs, Williams and DeMario Douglas commanding coverage on a weekly basis.
“I think as of today, he's the No. 2 receiver on the team behind Stefon Diggs,” said Lyons on 6 Rings. “He's had a really good camp, and his production has been good. He hasn't had any of those little mistakes - you know, those things that he's done in the past where, whether it was complaints in the media or not getting his feet down against the Eagles in 2023, it’d always be some sort of little frustrating nuisance or mistake. He hasn't had any of those.”
Gates for the public on day eight of training camp open at 9:15 a.m. ET on Thursday. Admission is free, but keep in mind that Thursday’s practice is slated to be a walkthrough, per the Patriots. So if you’re only planning on making one trip to Foxborough this training camp, Thursday might not be the day for it.
Jones and Keefe broadcast live overlooking the practice fields at Gillette all throughout training camp. The Home of Patriots Monday and Friday has training camp covered on the WEEI Network and WEEI.com.