Boutte caught 43 for 589 in 15 games last year. Seems to me that’s a tad less than Bourne’s career best of 55 for 800 in 17 games. So I’m not seeing why this board is so high on Boutte and down on Bourne. Boutte is younger, this will be his third year in the league so hopefully he has some upside but we’ve also seen plenty of WRs that flashed then fizzled. Bourne has more mileage, but he’s shown himself to be an established pro which a lot of youngsters never do, and he’s a year further away from rehabbing his ACL. So until they show me something to differentiate them on the field I’m seeing the two as comparable.
So until we see results in camp to change things, or some roster change occurs, the top WRs right now are Diggs, Hollins, Bourne, Boutte, and Douglas, in that order. There’s been some discussion about how much Diggs played the slot in Houston, so he might take snaps away from Pop. Thats why I’ve got Pop listed last of those five.
Right now neither Polk nor Baker has shown enough to avoid being called a bust if they retired today. They need to come into camp this year showing that they’ve learned how to be professional NFL players. That’s something many rookies never do. So until they show some performance and consistency all they have is potential, with just as much potential to be a bust as to be a star. Potential won’t displace any of the players ahead of them on the roster. I’ll wait to see if they make the roster before I get very excited about them.