Patriots Player Departure Patriots are sending WR Kayshon Boutte to the Texans for safety Jaylen Reed and a draft pick

[javajunky]

I really don't get the fuss about this trade. Reed will get many more snaps on our team than Boutte would.

 

[jdlboot14]

Hey, this is the way a pro sports business is supposed to work.
1. The team needed to improve and brought in high-level competition (investing serious $$ into new positional depth)
2. The existing player realized his role would decrease (he didn't fit the team's evaluation of top level $$ for role)
3. The player requested to be traded. This isn't contentious, he rightly evaluated his opportunity.
4. The team agreed with the value/production assessment and got what they could, while allowing the player to go somewhere he may have more opportunity to contribute & earn a FA contract that he wouldn't receive here.

 

[Bill Lee]

2. Kyle Williams made a jump and is the insurance. Mack Hollins will have a role but it is Williams who is expected to rise up should Doubs, Brown, or even Douglas go down. They have seen William's progress and are comfortable enough with it that there was no need for Boutte as insurance.

I like your take. It's pretty nuanced by calling out what the staff thinks they are seeing and what they are comfortable with. Look, at some point, you have to take the plunge and give a player like Williams a bigger role. The risk is that you're doing it more out of team building concerns rather than on-field performance, but those kinds of calls are what the staff gets paid to do.

Pretty sure the staff knew that when they signed Doubs that this was Boutte's last year here, and once they had a handshake deal on Brown they knew they'd rather use his roster spot on someone else.

Consensus I’m seeing is most fans hate this trade and wanted Boutte to stay.

As the old saying goes, if you do what the fans in the stands want, you'll end up sitting next to them.