BEFORE HIS INJURY.
3 whole years have passed. He was a freshman. Come on!
And this is where you'd be wrong.
20/21 season, three years ago...Boutte as a freshman started 5 games, played in 10, had 73.5yards/game (735 yards), 4.5catches/gm. Super promising, getting into the starting lineup as a freshman and lighting it up. He was thought of as the next great LSU receiver, of which there have been MANY in recent years (Beckham, Jefferson, Chase). They're like the old Penn St. for LBs.
Boutte played in 6 games his sophomore year (21/22), 2 years ago, and was doing BETTER, averaging 84.8yds/game, with 6.3catches/game. They were talking about him as a Biletnikoff Award (top WR) candidate - as a SOPHOMORE. He hurt his ankle, and when he came back the following year, ran into trouble with his coaches. Still played okay, but wasn't the same. Decided to go to the NFL and admittedly didn't prepare right for the Combine.
He plays a lot faster than his 40 time. You saw that on the one slant in preseason, where he caught the ball in full stride and made every correct adjustment at full speed to just leave the defenders behind. There isn't another WR on the Pats who can do that. TT has the speed, but his movement as he catches it has never shown that awareness and adjustment.
Now we have the typical BB system breakdown - as in, breakdown the rookie, humble the rookie, strip him down to clay to mold. It's a Navy mentality, and in this case, Boutte won't cut it. It won't work with him, just as it's been failing the Pats for years now. You get 4 years with a rookie. That's it. You need to know exactly what you have by the end of year three if you hope to re-sign him. How good is Uche, really? Who knows?
The Pats don't do that type of development. The Chiefs do that. The Bills do that. Drafted Kincaid - THROW him the ball, over and over again. He makes a mistake? Go right back to him.
People talk about BB's drafting, but I contend the worse part is the development, because he's still acting as if the team controls all destiny and as if the college kids will put up with his closed fist.
So here we have a kid who TWO years ago, not three, was on pace for possibly winning the award as the best college WR, in the SEC, and at the school best known in recent years for producing very top-end NFL WRs...
He didn't drag his foot. Punish him, bench him.
He complains, so leave him to waste on the inactive list. That'll teach him! Because, after all, this team is flush with true top-end NFL WR talent, right?
It's stupid, it's counterproductive, it's outdated, it's not fair to the kids coming in who have everything to gain or lose in the NFL, and it's not fair to Pat fans who have to sit through this offensive anemia game after game. Put the effing kids in there, throw them the damned ball, and see what you've got and what you need to get.
Maybe he flames out, or maybe (because the raw talent is there) he becomes the next in the line of Beckham, Jefferson, Chase...