What Patriots expect from newly acquired safety Jaylen Reed

When asked about the Kayshon Boutte trade and the reasoning behind it, Patriots executive vice president of player personnel Eliot Wolf had another name for it: the Jaylen Reed trade.

“Regarding the Jaylen Reed trade, Jaylen was a guy that we identified in the draft process as someone that we might pick, and he ended up going before we could take him,” Wolf said. “We followed his career last year with Houston and thought it was pretty remarkable that, as a rookie who hadn’t played much during the regular season, they trusted him enough to play the majority of the playoff games. We just continued to follow him, and when we determined that he might be available, he was someone that we wanted to acquire. We thank Kayshon [Boutte] for everything over the last three years that he was here. He showed tremendous growth and progress as a person and a player, and we’re excited for him and his opportunity. But this was about the Patriots and doing what’s best for our organization.”

Of course, Reed is the lesser-known of the two players. He played only seven games with one start as a rookie for the Texans, totaling 73 snaps during the regular season. To Wolf’s point, though, he started both of Houston’s playoff games, playing 100 total snaps, including 53 in the Divisional Round against the Patriots.

Boutte, on the other hand, had a career year in his third season last year, catching 33 passes for 551 yards and a career-high six touchdowns in 14 games. He also had the biggest catch of his career in that Divisional Round game against Reed’s Texans, hauling in a 32-yard, one-handed diving touchdown pass from quarterback Drake Maye.

Prior to the trade, the Patriots had seven roster-worthy receivers: A.J. Brown, Romeo Doubs, DeMario Douglas, Boutte, Mack Hollins, Kyle Williams and Efton Chism.

Wolf said the team had different conversations around the league, but the opportunity to acquire Reed ultimately stood out.

“There were some different conversations that we had with different teams throughout the league. Again, the opportunity to acquire Jaylen Reed for a player that Houston wanted is something that we decided to pull the trigger on,” Wolf said. “We feel really good about our receiver group. We have guys that can play in multiple positions. They all really complement each other well.”

Reed was selected in the sixth round of last year’s draft, 187th overall. The Patriots had a chance to select him, making eight selections before he was drafted, including kicker Andy Borregales five selections prior at No. 182.

So why did they feel the need to move Boutte and a 2028 seventh-round pick now?

“Again, we have a deep receiver room. I think that’s really what it came down to,” Wolf said. “And as you look to the gameday roster, there are maybe some situations where the opportunities for certain players wouldn’t be there, and we felt like this was the right time to do it.”

Wolf added that Boutte’s trade request, which reportedly came as far back as April, did not factor into the decision to trade him.

Boutte is entering the final year of his rookie contract and had primarily been repping with the second-team offense, though he did get some opportunities with the starters. He was behind Brown and Doubs on the depth chart.

It’s hard to imagine Reed making as much of an immediate impact as Boutte could have. He’ll instead be competing for playing time behind Kevin Byard, Craig Woodson, Dell Pettus, training camp standout John Saunders and Mike Brown, with Peter Manuma and Eric Butler also on New England’s safety depth chart.

When asked about Reed’s role, both Wolf and defensive coordinator Zak Kuhr took a wait-and-see approach.

“We’ll have to see. That will kind of be up to him at this point, coming in and learning the system. He’s supposed to be really smart, so we’ll see if our reports on that are true,” Wolf said. “But talking to him this morning, he’s really eager and excited to be here and has pledged to be more violent on special teams.”

Added Kuhr, “It’s still to be seen. He just got here. See what his skill set is and work with him. I know he’s coming here ready to work.”