Okay, for the sake of argument:
Boutte is not a free agent. He does not need a new contract this year.
Point 2, "nobody wants to trade for a guy then set him a massive new contract..." Well, A, it happens all the time., and 2, it wouldn't be massive. He's Kayshon Boutte, not Jerry Rice.
Data points:
- Boutte's contract is not up.
- Boutte came in and competed like he has something to prove (or, like he had something to prove to trade partners, if we believe he wanted the trade)
- Prior to camp, Boutte publicly announced, basically, "It's not me, it's them." I.e., he wanted it to work in NE. Of course, any party can be lying at any time. I mention this in case we believe there was urgency to trade him because we promised to trade him.
- Even if it was a "daddy, you promised" move, it wasn't one that couldn't wait.
I don't remember him being a "me me me" guy at any point, and I just don't understand it. I know I can live without his mid production (until you factor in yards/catch.)
That said, he's the odd man out (as always, for some reason.) Okay. I love the other guys who could also be traded, so it's not a binkie situation to me.
Maybe it's in-building stuff I guess. It could be some species of "Tow the line one more time without a holdout and we'll trade you, and we won't even say it's your idea."
It could even be, "you're right - you're worth being a star somewhere, but we're swinging for the fences and we think you've got a lower ceiling than we want."
It could be, "Hey you three guys. One of you has to go this season,. I don't care who. You're all medium productive. Anybody want to volunteer?"
All that sounds stupid though. I'm putting it in the "unexplained" file.
Of course, the explanation could just be "we need the room to get somebody, anybody, who can take the pressure off the LB corps (via big nickel) and my back hurts too much to go out and play myself so there goes Plan A."
So yeah, I am sure it's explained fairly easily, but not as easily as "he's about to be a free agent."
Okay, moving on.